Search results for "Alkylating"
showing 10 items of 66 documents
Human Monocytes, but not Dendritic Cells Derived from Them, Are Defective in Base Excision Repair and Hypersensitive to Methylating Agents
2007
Abstract Monocytes and dendritic cells are key players in the immune response. Because dendritic cells drive the tumor host defense, it is important that monocytes and dendritic cells survive cytotoxic tumor therapy. Although most of the anticancer drugs target DNA, the DNA repair capacity of monocytes and dendritic cells has not yet been investigated. We studied the sensitivity of monocytes and monocyte-derived dendritic cells against various genotoxic agents and found monocytes to be more sensitive to overall cell kill and apoptosis upon exposure to methylating agents (e.g., N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine, methyl methanesulfonate, and the anticancer drug temozolomide). On the other …
Kinetics of gamma-H2AX focus formation upon treatment of cells with UV light and alkylating agents.
2008
Histone H2AX is rapidly phosphorylated in response to DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) induced by ionizing radiation (IR). Here we show that DNA damage induced by alkylating agents [methyl methanesulfonate (MMS) and N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG)] and ultraviolet light (UV-C) leads to a dose and time dependent accumulation of phosphorylated H2AX (gamma-H2AX). Time course experiments revealed that the number of gamma-H2AX foci reached peak levels 8 hr after MMS or MNNG treatment and declined to almost control values within 24 hr after exposure. Upon UV-C treatment, a biphasic response was observed with a maximum 12 hr after treatment. In 43-3B cells deficient in nucleotide excisi…
MGMT: Key node in the battle against genotoxicity, carcinogenicity and apoptosis induced by alkylating agents
2007
O(6)-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) plays a crucial role in the defense against alkylating agents that generate, among other lesions, O(6)-alkylguanine in DNA (collectively termed O(6)-alkylating agents [O(6)AA]). The defense is highly important, since O(6)AA are common environmental carcinogens, are formed endogenously during normal cellular metabolism and possibly inflammation, and are being used in cancer therapy. O(6)AA induced DNA damage is subject to repair, which is executed by MGMT, AlkB homologous proteins (ABH) and base excision repair (BER). Although this review focuses on MGMT, the mechanism of repair by ABH and BER will also be discussed. Experimental systems, in wh…
Activation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase 1 by UV irradiation is inhibited by wortmannin without affecting c-iun expression.
1999
Activation of c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNKs)/stress-activated protein kinases is an early response of cells upon exposure to DNA-damaging agents. JNK-mediated phosphorylation of c-Jun is currently understood to stimulate the transactivating potency of AP-1 (e.g., c-Jun/c-Fos; c-Jun/ATF-2), thereby increasing the expression of AP-1 target genes. Here we show that stimulation of JNK1 activity is not a general early response of cells exposed to genotoxic agents. Treatment of NIH 3T3 cells with UV light (UV-C) as well as with methyl methanesulfonate (MMS) caused activation of JNK1 and an increase in c-Jun protein and AP-1 binding activity, whereas antineoplastic drugs such as mafosfamide, mito…
Primary mouse fibroblasts deficient for c-Fos, p53 or for both proteins are hypersensitive to UV light and alkylating agent-induced chromosomal break…
2000
The important regulatory proteins, c-Fos and p53 are induced by exposure of cells to a variety of DNA damaging agents. To investigate their role in cellular defense against genotoxic compounds, we comparatively analysed chromosomal aberrations and apoptosis induced by ultraviolet (UV-C) light and the potent alkylating agent methyl methanesulfonate (MMS) in primary diploid mouse fibroblasts knockout for either c-Fos or p53, or double knockout for both genes. We show that c-Fos and p53 deficient fibroblasts are more sensitive than the corresponding wild-type cells as to the induction of chromosomal aberrations and apoptosis. Double knockout fibroblasts lacking both c-Fos and p53 are viable an…
Mismatch G-T binding activity and MSH2 expression is quantitatively related to sensitivity of cells to methylating agents
1998
To elucidate mechanisms involved in alkylating drug resistance, Chinese hamster cells resistant to methylating agents have been generated upon transfection with human DNA. Here it is shown that these Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) variants exhibit the tolerance phenotype: they are alkyltransferase deficient (Mex-), cross-resistant to 6-thioguanine, exhibit reduced G-T binding (MutS alpha) activity and express the mismatch repair protein MSH2 at a significantly lower level than the corresponding control. By comparing wild-type cells with different tolerant strains that show gradual differences in resistance to methylating agents, it was shown that both the G-T binding activity and the amount of…
Influence of DNA damage and repair upon the risk of treatment related leukemia
2008
Therapy-related myelodysplasia and acute myeloid leukemia (t-MDS/AML) are malignancies occurring after exposure to chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. Several studies have addressed cumulative dose, dose intensity and exposure to specific agents of preceding cytotoxic therapy in relation to the risk of developing such leukemia. Since only a small percentage of patients exposed to cytotoxic therapy develop t-MDS/AML, it has been suggested that some genetic predisposition may be involved, specifically associated to polymorphisms in certain genes involved in chemotherapy/radiotherapy response - fundamentally genes intervening in drug detoxification and DNA synthesis and repair. A review is made …
Pyrrolo[2,1-d][1,2,3,5]tetrazinones deaza analogues of temozolomide with potent antitumor activity
2000
The title compounds, that hold the deaza skeleton of temozolomide, exhibited potent in vitro antiproliferative activity. An evaluation of such a biological activity indicates that the mode of action of these compounds differs from that of temozolomide and is also mechanistically unrelated to that of any known antitumor drug.
Prospective Study of the Evolution of Blood Lymphoid Immune Parameters during Dacarbazine Chemotherapy in Metastatic and Locally Advanced Melanoma Pa…
2014
BackgroundThe importance of immune responses in the control of melanoma growth is well known. However, the implication of these antitumor immune responses in the efficacy of dacarbazine, a cytotoxic drug classically used in the treatment of melanoma, remains poorly understood in humans.MethodsIn this prospective observational study, we performed an immunomonitoring of eleven metastatic or locally advanced patients treated with dacarbazine as a first line of treatment. We assessed by flow cytometry lymphoid populations and their activation state; we also isolated NK cells to perform in vitro cytotoxicity tests.ResultsWe found that chemotherapy induces lymphopenia and that a significantly hig…
Induction of the alkyltransferase (MGMT) gene by DNA damaging agents and the glucocorticoid dexamethasone and comparison with the response of base ex…
1996
Repair of alkylated bases in DNA is performed by O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) and a set of enzymes of the base excision repair pathway involving N-methylpurine-DNA glycosylase (MPG), apurinic endonuclease (APE), DNA polymerase beta (Pol beta) and DNA ligase. The level of expression of these enzymes may exert a profound effect on resistance of cells towards alkylating drugs. We have comparatively analyzed the expression of MGMT and the different base excision repair genes in rat hepatoma cells (line H4IIE) after exposure to alkylating agents, X-rays and the glucocorticoid hormone dexamethasone. Furthermore, the effect of these agents on the activity of the cloned human MGMT …