DNA Damage Response during Replication Correlates with CIN70 Score and Determines Survival in HNSCC Patients

TY - JOUR

T1 - DNA Damage Response during Replication Correlates with CIN70 Score and Determines Survival in HNSCC Patients

AU - Bold, Ioan T

AU - Specht, Ann-Kathrin

AU - Droste, Conrad F

AU - Zielinski, Alexandra

AU - Meyer, Felix

AU - Clauditz, Till S

AU - Münscher, Adrian

AU - Werner, Stefan

AU - Rothkamm, Kai

AU - Petersen, Cordula

AU - Borgmann, Kerstin

N1 - Please update the internal affiliation for the joint first authors IT Bold and AK Specht to "Department of Radiotherapy and Radiation Oncology".

PY - 2021/3/10

Y1 - 2021/3/10

N2 - Aneuploidy is a consequence of chromosomal instability (CIN) that affects prognosis. Gene expression levels associated with aneuploidy provide insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying CIN. Based on the gene signature whose expression was consistent with functional aneuploidy, the CIN70 score was established. We observed an association of CIN70 score and survival in 519 HNSCC patients in the TCGA dataset; the 15% patients with the lowest CIN70 score showed better survival (p = 0.11), but association was statistically non-significant. This correlated with the expression of 39 proteins of the major repair complexes. A positive association with survival was observed for MSH2, XRCC1, MRE11A, BRCA1, BRCA2, LIG1, DNA2, POLD1, MCM2, RAD54B, claspin, a negative for ERCC1, all related with replication. We hypothesized that expression of these factors leads to protection of replication through efficient repair and determines survival and resistance to therapy. Protein expression differences in HNSCC cell lines did not correlate with cellular sensitivity after treatment. Rather, it was observed that the stability of the DNA replication fork determined resistance, which was dependent on the ATR/CHK1-mediated S-phase signaling cascade. This suggests that it is not the expression of individual DNA repair proteins that causes therapy resistance, but rather a balanced expression and coordinated activation of corresponding signaling cascades.

AB - Aneuploidy is a consequence of chromosomal instability (CIN) that affects prognosis. Gene expression levels associated with aneuploidy provide insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying CIN. Based on the gene signature whose expression was consistent with functional aneuploidy, the CIN70 score was established. We observed an association of CIN70 score and survival in 519 HNSCC patients in the TCGA dataset; the 15% patients with the lowest CIN70 score showed better survival (p = 0.11), but association was statistically non-significant. This correlated with the expression of 39 proteins of the major repair complexes. A positive association with survival was observed for MSH2, XRCC1, MRE11A, BRCA1, BRCA2, LIG1, DNA2, POLD1, MCM2, RAD54B, claspin, a negative for ERCC1, all related with replication. We hypothesized that expression of these factors leads to protection of replication through efficient repair and determines survival and resistance to therapy. Protein expression differences in HNSCC cell lines did not correlate with cellular sensitivity after treatment. Rather, it was observed that the stability of the DNA replication fork determined resistance, which was dependent on the ATR/CHK1-mediated S-phase signaling cascade. This suggests that it is not the expression of individual DNA repair proteins that causes therapy resistance, but rather a balanced expression and coordinated activation of corresponding signaling cascades.

U2 - 10.3390/cancers13061194

DO - 10.3390/cancers13061194

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 33801877

VL - 13

JO - CANCERS

JF - CANCERS

SN - 2072-6694

IS - 6

ER -