TY - JOUR
T1 - Genomic uracil homeostasis during normal B cell maturation and loss of this balance during B cell cancer development
AU - Shalhout, Sophia
AU - Haddad, Dania
AU - Sosin, Angela
AU - Holland, Thomas C.
AU - Al-Katib, Ayad
AU - Martin, Alberto
AU - Bhagwata, Ashok S.
PY - 2014/1/1
Y1 - 2014/1/1
N2 - Activation-induced deaminase (AID) converts DNA cytosines to uracils in immunoglobulin genes, creating antibody diversification. It also causes mutations and translocations that promote cancer. We examined the interplay between uracil creation by AID and its removal by UNG2 glycosylase in splenocytes undergoing maturation and in B cell cancers. The genomic uracil levels remain unchanged in normal stimulated B cells, demonstrating a balance between uracil generation and removal. In stimulated UNG-/- cells, uracil levels increase by 11- to 60-fold during the first 3 days. In wild-type B cells, UNG2 gene expression and enzymatic activity rise and fall with AID levels, suggesting that UNG2 expression is coordinated with uracil creation by AID. Remarkably, a murine lymphoma cell line, several human B cell cancer lines, and human B cell tumors expressing AID at high levels have genomic uracils comparable to those seen with stimulated UNG-/- splenocytes. However, cancer cells express UNG2 gene at levels similar to or higher than those seen with peripheral B cells and have nuclear uracil excision activity comparable to that seen with stimulated wild-type B cells. We propose that more uracils are created during B cell cancer development than are removed from the genome but that the uracil creation/excision balance is restored during establishment of cell lines, fixing the genomic uracil load at high levels.
AB - Activation-induced deaminase (AID) converts DNA cytosines to uracils in immunoglobulin genes, creating antibody diversification. It also causes mutations and translocations that promote cancer. We examined the interplay between uracil creation by AID and its removal by UNG2 glycosylase in splenocytes undergoing maturation and in B cell cancers. The genomic uracil levels remain unchanged in normal stimulated B cells, demonstrating a balance between uracil generation and removal. In stimulated UNG-/- cells, uracil levels increase by 11- to 60-fold during the first 3 days. In wild-type B cells, UNG2 gene expression and enzymatic activity rise and fall with AID levels, suggesting that UNG2 expression is coordinated with uracil creation by AID. Remarkably, a murine lymphoma cell line, several human B cell cancer lines, and human B cell tumors expressing AID at high levels have genomic uracils comparable to those seen with stimulated UNG-/- splenocytes. However, cancer cells express UNG2 gene at levels similar to or higher than those seen with peripheral B cells and have nuclear uracil excision activity comparable to that seen with stimulated wild-type B cells. We propose that more uracils are created during B cell cancer development than are removed from the genome but that the uracil creation/excision balance is restored during establishment of cell lines, fixing the genomic uracil load at high levels.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84907810906&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1128/MCB.00589-14
DO - 10.1128/MCB.00589-14
M3 - Article
C2 - 25154417
AN - SCOPUS:84907810906
VL - 34
SP - 4019
EP - 4032
JO - Molecular and Cellular Biology
JF - Molecular and Cellular Biology
SN - 0270-7306
IS - 21
ER -