生物时钟调控DNA损伤反应的研究进展

随着地球的自转,哺乳动物的许多生理和行为都表现出以24h为周期的节律性振荡。生物时钟是昼夜节律产生的物质基础。在分子水平上,生物时钟由一组高度保守的时钟基因及其编码的蛋白质形成的转录-翻译反馈环路组成。它控制着许多生化反应的进行,包括细胞对基因毒性刺激等环境因素的反应。最近的研究发现,生物时钟在细胞的DNA损伤反应过程(包括DNA修复、DNA损伤检验点以及细胞凋亡)中发挥着重要的调控作用。深入了解其中的机制将为治疗相关疾病提供潜在的药物靶点,也可指导开发新的治疗方案,如时辰疗法。     

生物节律基因Timeless的生物学功能研究进展

Timeless基因广泛分布于生物体中,是主要的生物节律基因之一,它通过与节律基因Per和Cry家族成员的相互作用影响它们的表达水平。Timeless和Tipin能够稳定复制叉,促进姊妹染色单体凝聚,对DNA复制有促进作用;在细胞周期中激活S期检测点,参与ATR-Chk1和ATM-Chk2的DNA损伤修复通路,加强细胞周期的阻滞以修复DNA损伤。Timeless是生物节律和细胞周期的连接者,在多种癌组织(如肝癌、肺癌、乳腺癌、结直肠癌、肾癌和胰腺癌)中的表达水平与癌旁非癌组织相比有差异,提示Timeless表达异常可能与肿瘤的发生和发展相关。     

CDK12主要生理功能与其在肿瘤发生中作用的研究进展

周期蛋白依赖性激酶(cyclin-dependent kinase, CDK)是细胞周期和基因转录的关键调节因子,其调控异常是促进肿瘤发生的重要因素。CDK12是一种与转录相关的周期蛋白依赖性激酶,可使RNA聚合酶Ⅱ碳端氨基酸(carboxy terminal domain of RNA polymeraseⅡ, RNA pol II CTD)中的丝氨酸磷酸化,并参与多种细胞生理过程,如DNA损伤反应、细胞增殖和分化以及m RNA剪接和转录前m RNA加工等。此外, CDK12编码基因的突变将导致多种细胞过程调控异常,基因不稳定性增加,这都可能促进肿瘤的发生发展。本文将重点讨论细胞中CDK12调节转录调控、RNA剪接、细胞成熟和分化、DNA损伤修复(DNA damage repair, DDR)的机制以及其基因突变对于正常细胞的影响,旨在阐明CDK12的主要生理功能及其在肿瘤发生发展中的作用,为临床各类肿瘤的靶向药物研究提供帮助。     

时钟节律与细胞周期

昼夜节律和细胞周期是生命有机体中两种主要的节律性、周期性的活动,参与机体代谢与生理节律．在分子水平上,它们的周期性活动是由一种周期性振荡的网络构成的,这种网络由一系列节律性表达的蛋白所形成．研究发现,多种节律因子通过调节周期蛋白的表达影响细胞周期进程,如G ₁-S期,REV-ERBa抑制p21促进细胞进程,RORα激活p21抑制细胞进程,DEC1抑制cyclinD1,CLOCK/BMAL1负调控c-Myc;G ₂-M期,BMAL1/CLOCK、BMAL1/NPAS2或Cry1作用于Wee1抑制或激活G_2-M期进程．此外,昼夜节律钟蛋白也参与了DNA损伤修复及细胞死亡的过程：Per1、Tim分别作用于ATM、ATR,因而促进细胞周期停滞,p53缺失的细胞中敲除Cry促进细胞凋亡过程,抑制了肿瘤的形成,DEC1以p53依赖的方式促细胞衰老等．同时,节律因子的紊乱引起多种疾病的产生．因此,阐明昼夜节律对细胞周期及死亡的影响,将为肿瘤的治疗提供分子理论基础．     

一组多功能的错配修复蛋白

错配修复蛋白是DNA错配修复系统中主要功能蛋白质,主要参与DNA复制过程中对错配碱基的识别和修复.近年来研究表明错配修复蛋白还参与DNA损伤信号的传递、细胞周期的调控、减数分裂和有丝分裂等.错配修复蛋白缺陷会增加患肿瘤的危险性或者直接导致肿瘤;由于错配修复蛋白参与了DNA损伤信号传递、周期调控,错配修复蛋白缺陷还会导致细胞对相关抗癌药物产生耐受.     

从DNA修复机理看细胞癌变的发生机制

DNA损伤是引起基因突变,导致细胞恶性转化的重要原因．DNA损伤的修复过程非常复杂,是与细胞周期调节、DNA复制和DNA转录等生命活动紧密相连的．首先DNA修复需要细胞周期停滞,避免DNA损伤进入子代细胞．其次,参与DNA转录的某些基因产物参与DNA损伤的识别,有利于转录链的优先修复．最后,DNA修复系统NER、MMR参与损伤修复．上述DNA修复过程任何环节的异常,都将造成DNA修复功能减弱,导致某些功能基因突变,从而导致细胞的恶性转化．     

电离辐射诱导基因的研究进展

电离辐射诱导基因是一类受电离辐射调控表达的基因,其表达随辐射条件和所处生理环境的不同呈现复杂多变的特征。电离辐射诱导基因参与细胞内各种代谢途径,在细胞周期调控、细胞生长调节、细胞凋亡、DNA损伤修复中发挥着重要的作用。介绍了电离辐射诱导基因的种类、功能,及其引起的生物效应的分子机制及应用。     

GADD45α参与维持基因组稳定性并发挥肿瘤抑制效应的多样性分子机制

哺乳动物细胞在遭受应激损伤因素刺激时会启动一系列信号传导通路,从而引发细胞周期阻滞、DNA修复或细胞凋亡等效应,这些机制的异常与肿瘤的发生发展密切相关。GADD45α作为生长阻滞及DNA损伤诱导基因编码家族的一员,参与维持基因组稳定性、调控细胞周期行进、DNA损伤修复、细胞衰老及细胞凋亡等多种生物学过程,在肿瘤发生发展和肿瘤抑制反应中具有重要作用。我们简要综述了GADD45α参与维持基因组稳定性并发挥肿瘤抑制效应的分子机制。     

DNA损伤检验点调控的分子机制

多种因素可以引起DNA损伤而最终导致基因产生错义突变、缺失或错误重组。为确保遗传准确性,细胞形成了复杂的细胞周期监督机制,即细胞周期检验点。其中DNA损伤检验点由许多检验点相关蛋白组成,可以识别损伤的DNA,经复杂的信号转导途径引发蛋白激酶的级联反应,减慢或阻滞细胞周期进程,从而为细胞修复损伤的DNA赢得时间。     

MiR-210在缺氧中调控机制的研究进展

MicroRNA(miRNA)是一类包含21-25个核苷酸的单链非编码小RNA.研究表明,miR-210可直接抑制线粒体内铁硫蛋白(Fe-S)的支架蛋白ISCUl/2的表达从而抑制线粒体代谢;miR-210对DNA损伤修复基因-RAD家族有抑制作用,减弱了DNA修复能力;miR-210可以通过调节E2F3、纤维母细胞生长因子受体1(FGFRL1)、同源域基因A1(HOXA1)等阻止细胞增殖,调控细胞周期;缺氧刺激可上调miR-210表达,这对促进血管再生有重要作用.miR-210的表达受缺氧诱导,调控缺氧反应相关基因的表达,提示miR-210有可能成为诊治包括缺血性损伤、肿瘤在内等多种疾病的新靶点.     

肾上腺糖皮质激素与生物钟基因表达调控的相关研究进展

由生物体内源性生物钟所产生的昼夜节律是近年来生命科学的研究热点之一。哺乳动物中的昼夜节律系统由位于下丘脑SCN核内的主钟和位于多数外周细胞中的子钟组成。生物钟基因及其编码的蛋白质组成反馈回路,维持振荡系统持续进行并与环境周期保持同步。光照和食物是生物钟重要的授时因子, 光照刺激能引起肾上腺中基因表达变化以及糖皮质激素的分泌, 而肾上腺糖皮质激素能减缓由食物因子引起的外周生物钟时相的移动。可见, 肾上腺糖皮质激素与生物钟有着非常密切的关系。文章综述了两者的相互影响并对今后的研究方向做了展望。     

Disrupting Circadian Homeostasis of Sympathetic Signaling Promotes Tumor Development in Mice

Background

Cell proliferation in all rapidly renewing mammalian tissues follows a circadian rhythm that is often disrupted in advanced-stage tumors. Epidemiologic studies have revealed a clear link between disruption of circadian rhythms and cancer development in humans. Mice lacking the circadian genes Period1 and 2 (Per) or Cryptochrome1 and 2 (Cry) are deficient in cell cycle regulation and Per2 mutant mice are cancer-prone. However, it remains unclear how circadian rhythm in cell proliferation is generated in vivo and why disruption of circadian rhythm may lead to tumorigenesis.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Mice lacking Per1 and 2, Cry1 and 2, or one copy of Bmal1, all show increased spontaneous and radiation-induced tumor development. The neoplastic growth of Per-mutant somatic cells is not controlled cell-autonomously but is dependent upon extracellular mitogenic signals. Among the circadian output pathways, the rhythmic sympathetic signaling plays a key role in the central-peripheral timing mechanism that simultaneously activates the cell cycle clock via AP1-controlled Myc induction and p53 via peripheral clock-controlled ATM activation. Jet-lag promptly desynchronizes the central clock-SNS-peripheral clock axis, abolishes the peripheral clock-dependent ATM activation, and activates myc oncogenic potential, leading to tumor development in the same organ systems in wild-type and circadian gene-mutant mice.

Conclusions/Significance

Tumor suppression in vivo is a clock-controlled physiological function. The central circadian clock paces extracellular mitogenic signals that drive peripheral clock-controlled expression of key cell cycle and tumor suppressor genes to generate a circadian rhythm in cell proliferation. Frequent disruption of circadian rhythm is an important tumor promoting factor.     

Circadian gene expression in individual fibroblasts: cell-autonomous and self-sustained oscillators pass time to daughter cells

The mammalian circadian timing system is composed of a central pacemaker in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the brain and subsidiary oscillators in most peripheral cell types. While oscillators in SCN neurons are known to function in a self-sustained fashion, peripheral oscillators have been thought to damp rapidly when disconnected from the control exerted by the SCN. Using two reporter systems, we monitored circadian gene expression in NIH3T3 mouse fibroblasts in real time and in individual cells. In conjunction with mathematical modeling and cell co-culture experiments, these data demonstrated that in vitro cultured fibroblasts harbor self-sustained and cell-autonomous circadian clocks similar to those operative in SCN neurons. Circadian gene expression in fibroblasts continues during cell division, and our experiments unveiled unexpected interactions between the circadian clock and the cell division clock. Specifically, the circadian oscillator gates cytokinesis to defined time windows, and mitosis elicits phase shifts in circadian cycles.     

Establishment of cell lines derived from the rat suprachiasmatic nucleus

Physiological and behavioral circadian rhythms in mammals are orchestrated by a central circadian clock located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus. Photic input entrains the phase of the central clock, and many peripheral clocks are regulated by neural or hormonal output from the SCN. We established cell lines derived from the rat embryonic SCN to examine the molecular network of the central clock. An established cell line exhibited the stable circadian expression of clock genes. The circadian oscillation was abruptly phase-shifted by forskolin, and abolished by siBmal1. These results are compatible with in vivo studies of the SCN.     

Impaired light detection of the circadian clock in a zebrafish melanoma model

The circadian clock controls the timing of the cell cycle in healthy tissues and clock disruption is known to increase tumourigenesis. Melanoma is one of the most rapidly increasing forms of cancer and the precise molecular circadian changes that occur in a melanoma tumor are unknown. Using a melanoma zebrafish model, we have explored the molecular changes that occur to the circadian clock within tumors. We have found disruptions in melanoma clock gene expression due to a major impairment to the light input pathway, with a parallel loss of light-dependent activation of DNA repair genes. Furthermore, the timing of mitosis in tumors is perturbed, as well as the regulation of certain key cell cycle regulators, such that cells divide arhythmically. The inability to co-ordinate DNA damage repair and cell division is likely to promote further tumourigenesis and accelerate melanoma development.     

In vivo monitoring of peripheral circadian clocks in the mouse

The mammalian circadian system is comprised of a central clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) and a network of peripheral oscillators located in all of the major organ systems. The SCN is traditionally thought to be positioned at the top of the hierarchy, with SCN lesions resulting in an arrhythmic organism. However, recent work has demonstrated that the SCN and peripheral tissues generate independent circadian oscillations in Per1 clock gene expression in vitro. In the present study, we sought to clarify the role of the SCN in the intact system by recording rhythms in clock gene expression in vivo. A practical imaging protocol was developed that enables us to measure circadian rhythms easily, noninvasively, and longitudinally in individual mice. Circadian oscillations were detected in the kidney, liver, and submandibular gland studied in about half of the SCN-lesioned, behaviorally arrhythmic mice. However, their amplitude was decreased in these organs. Free-running periods of peripheral clocks were identical to those of activity rhythms recorded before the SCN lesion. Thus, we can report for the first time that many of the fundamental properties of circadian oscillations in peripheral clocks in vivo are maintained in the absence of SCN control.