title: The telomeric protein TRF2 is critical for the protection of A549 cells from both telomere erosion and DNA double-strand breaks driven by salvicine.
abstract: Telomere repeat binding factor 2 (TRF2) has been increasingly recognized to be involved in DNA damage response and telomere maintenance. Our previous report found that salvicine (SAL), a novel topoisomerase II poison, elicited DNA double-strand breaks and telomere erosion in separate experimental systems. However, it remains to be clarified whether they share a common response to these two events and in particular whether TRF2 is involved in this process. In this study, we found that SAL concurrently induced DNA double-strand breaks, telomeric DNA damage, and telomere erosion in lung carcinoma A549 cells. It was unexpected to find that SAL led to disruption of TRF2, independently of either its transcription or proteasome-mediated degradation. By overexpressing the full-length trf2 gene and transfecting TRF2 small interfering RNAs, we showed that TRF2 protein protected both telomeric and genomic DNA from the SAL-elicited events. It is noteworthy that although both the Ataxia-telangiectasia-mutated (ATM) and the ATM- and Rad3-related (ATR) kinases responded to the SAL-induced DNA damages, only ATR was essential for the telomere erosion. The study also showed that the activated ATR augmented the SAL-triggered TRF2 disruption, whereas TRF2 reduction in turn enhanced ATR function. All of these findings suggest the emerging significance of TRF2 protecting both telomeric DNA and genomic DNA on the one hand and reveal the mutual modulation between ATR and TRF2 in sensing DNA damage signaling during cancer development on the other hand.
authors.affiliation: Division of Anti-Tumor Pharmacology, State Key Laboratory of Drug Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yong-Wei
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zhi-Xiang
authors.initials: ZX
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Ze-Hong
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Miao
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ding
mesh_terms: D064007:Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated Proteins; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000473:pathology; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D020552:Comet Assay; D053903:DNA Breaks, Double-Stranded / Q000187:drug effects*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D009285:Naphthoquinones / Q000506:poisoning*; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000378:metabolism; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D016615:Telomere / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D035341:Telomeric Repeat Binding Protein 2 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D014162:Transfection; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D009285:Naphthoquinones; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; C504753:TERF2 protein, human; D035341:Telomeric Repeat Binding Protein 2; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins; C122096:salvicine; C576324:ATM protein, human; C576597:ATR protein, human; D064007:Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated Proteins; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases