@article{TrifaultMamontovaCossaetal.2024, author = {Trifault, Barbara and Mamontova, Victoria and Cossa, Giacomo and Ganskih, Sabina and Wei, Yuanjie and Hofstetter, Julia and Bhandare, Pranjali and Baluapuri, Apoorva and Nieto, Blanca and Solvie, Daniel and Ade, Carsten P. and Gallant, Peter and Wolf, Elmar and Larsen, Dorthe H. and Munschauer, Mathias and Burger, Kaspar}, title = {Nucleolar detention of NONO shields DNA double-strand breaks from aberrant transcripts}, series = {Nucleic Acids Research}, volume = {52}, journal = {Nucleic Acids Research}, number = {6}, doi = {10.1093/nar/gkae022}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-350208}, pages = {3050-3068}, year = {2024}, abstract = {RNA-binding proteins emerge as effectors of the DNA damage response (DDR). The multifunctional non-POU domain-containing octamer-binding protein NONO/p54\(^{nrb}\) marks nuclear paraspeckles in unperturbed cells, but also undergoes re-localization to the nucleolus upon induction of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). However, NONO nucleolar re-localization is poorly understood. Here we show that the topoisomerase II inhibitor etoposide stimulates the production of RNA polymerase II-dependent, DNA damage-inducible antisense intergenic non-coding RNA (asincRNA) in human cancer cells. Such transcripts originate from distinct nucleolar intergenic spacer regions and form DNA-RNA hybrids to tether NONO to the nucleolus in an RNA recognition motif 1 domain-dependent manner. NONO occupancy at protein-coding gene promoters is reduced by etoposide, which attenuates pre-mRNA synthesis, enhances NONO binding to pre-mRNA transcripts and is accompanied by nucleolar detention of a subset of such transcripts. The depletion or mutation of NONO interferes with detention and prolongs DSB signalling. Together, we describe a nucleolar DDR pathway that shields NONO and aberrant transcripts from DSBs to promote DNA repair.}, language = {en} } @article{MemmelSisarioZimmermannetal.2020, author = {Memmel, Simon and Sisario, Dmitri and Zimmermann, Heiko and Sauer, Markus and Sukhorukov, Vladimir L. and Djuzenova, Cholpon S. and Flentje, Michael}, title = {FocAn: automated 3D analysis of DNA repair foci in image stacks acquired by confocal fluorescence microscopy}, series = {BMC Bioinformatics}, volume = {21}, journal = {BMC Bioinformatics}, doi = {10.1186/s12859-020-3370-8}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-229023}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Background Phosphorylated histone H2AX, also known as gamma H2AX, forms mu m-sized nuclear foci at the sites of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) induced by ionizing radiation and other agents. Due to their specificity and sensitivity, gamma H2AX immunoassays have become the gold standard for studying DSB induction and repair. One of these assays relies on the immunofluorescent staining of gamma H2AX followed by microscopic imaging and foci counting. During the last years, semi- and fully automated image analysis, capable of fast detection and quantification of gamma H2AX foci in large datasets of fluorescence images, are gradually replacing the traditional method of manual foci counting. A major drawback of the non-commercial software for foci counting (available so far) is that they are restricted to 2D-image data. In practice, these algorithms are useful for counting the foci located close to the midsection plane of the nucleus, while the out-of-plane foci are neglected. Results To overcome the limitations of 2D foci counting, we present a freely available ImageJ-based plugin (FocAn) for automated 3D analysis of gamma H2AX foci in z-image stacks acquired by confocal fluorescence microscopy. The image-stack processing algorithm implemented in FocAn is capable of automatic 3D recognition of individual cell nuclei and gamma H2AX foci, as well as evaluation of the total foci number per cell nucleus. The FocAn algorithm consists of two parts: nucleus identification and foci detection, each employing specific sequences of auto local thresholding in combination with watershed segmentation techniques. We validated the FocAn algorithm using fluorescence-labeled gamma H2AX in two glioblastoma cell lines, irradiated with 2 Gy and given up to 24 h post-irradiation for repair. We found that the data obtained with FocAn agreed well with those obtained with an already available software (FoCo) and manual counting. Moreover, FocAn was capable of identifying overlapping foci in 3D space, which ensured accurate foci counting even at high DSB density of up to similar to 200 DSB/nucleus. Conclusions FocAn is freely available an open-source 3D foci analyzer. The user-friendly algorithm FocAn requires little supervision and can automatically count the amount of DNA-DSBs, i.e. fluorescence-labeled gamma H2AX foci, in 3D image stacks acquired by laser-scanning microscopes without additional nuclei staining.}, language = {en} } @article{SchumannScherthanFranketal.2020, author = {Schumann, Sarah and Scherthan, Harry and Frank, Torsten and Lapa, Constantin and M{\"u}ller, Jessica and Seifert, Simone and Lassmann, Michael and Eberlein, Uta}, title = {DNA Damage in Blood Leukocytes of Prostate Cancer Patients Undergoing PET/CT Examinations with [\(^{68}\)Ga]Ga-PSMA I\&T}, series = {Cancers}, volume = {12}, journal = {Cancers}, number = {2}, issn = {2072-6694}, doi = {10.3390/cancers12020388}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-200585}, pages = {388}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The aim was to investigate the induction and repair of radiation-induced DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) as a function of the absorbed dose to the blood of patients undergoing PET/CT examinations with [68Ga]Ga-PSMA. Blood samples were collected from 15 patients before and at four time points after [68Ga]Ga-PSMA administration, both before and after the PET/CT scan. Absorbed doses to the blood were calculated. In addition, blood samples with/without contrast agent from five volunteers were irradiated ex vivo by CT while measuring the absorbed dose. Leukocytes were isolated, fixed, and stained for co-localizing γ-H2AX+53BP1 DSB foci that were enumerated manually. In vivo, a significant increase in γ-H2AX+53BP1 foci compared to baseline was observed at all time points after administration, although the absorbed dose to the blood by 68Ga was below 4 mGy. Ex vivo, the increase in radiation-induced foci depended on the absorbed dose and the presence of contrast agent, which could have caused a dose enhancement. The CT-dose contribution for the patients was estimated at about 12 mGy using the ex vivo calibration. The additional number of DSB foci induced by CT, however, was comparable to the one induced by 68Ga. The significantly increased foci numbers after [68Ga]Ga-PSMA administration may suggest a possible low-dose hypersensitivity.}, language = {en} }