title: Are common fragile sites merely structural domains or highly organized "functional" units susceptible to oncogenic stress?
abstract: Common fragile sites (CFSs) are regions of the genome with a predisposition to DNA double-strand breaks in response to intrinsic (oncogenic) or extrinsic replication stress. CFS breakage is a common feature in carcinogenesis from its earliest stages. Given that a number of oncogenes and tumor suppressors are located within CFSs, a question that emerges is whether fragility in these regions is only a structural "passive" incident or an event with a profound biological effect. Furthermore, there is sparse evidence that other elements, like non-coding RNAs, are positioned with them. By analyzing data from various libraries, like miRbase and ENCODE, we show a prevalence of various cancer-related genes, miRNAs, and regulatory binding sites, such as CTCF within CFSs. We propose that CFSs are not only susceptible structural domains, but highly organized "functional" entities that when targeted, severe repercussion for cell homeostasis occurs.
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, School of Applied Mathematical and Physical Sciences, National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Zografou, 15780, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Alexandros G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Georgakilas
authors.forename: Petros
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tsantoulis
authors.forename: Athanassios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kotsinas
authors.forename: Ioannis
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Michalopoulos
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Townsend
authors.forename: Vassilis G
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: Gorgoulis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D043283:Chromosome Fragile Sites; D004260:DNA Repair; D004261:DNA Replication; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D009857:Oncogenes
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs