DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are one of the most lethal types of DNA damage that occurs in eukaryotic cells.
There are two distinct pathways of repairing DSBs, homologous recombination (HR) and non-homologous end joining
(NHEJ). In the NHEJ repairing pathway, DSB recognition and repair initiation is directed by the interaction of DNAbinding
subunit Ku70/80 heterodimer with the DNA-PK protein catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs). Mutations in these
proteins result in repair stalling and eventual DNA misrepair that may lead to genomic instability. Studying the binding
kinetics of these repair proteins is therefore important for understanding the conditions under which DSB repair stalls.
Currently open questions are, what is the minimum DNA length that this complex needs to get a foothold onto a DSB
and how tightly does DNA-PKcs bind onto the DNA-Ku70/80 complex. Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS)
and Fluorescence Cross-Correlation Spectroscopy (FCCS) techniques have the potential to give information about the
binding kinetics of DNA-protein and protein-protein interactions at the single-molecule level. In this work, FCS/FCCS
measurements were performed to explore the minimum DNA base-pair (bp) length that Ku70/80 needed as a foothold to
bind effectively onto the tips of different lengths of double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) fragments that mimic DSBs. 25 bp,
33 bp and 50 bp of dsDNA were used for these experiments and binding was studied as a function of salt concentration
in solution. It was found that the 25 bp binding was weak even at physiological salt concentrations while the dissociation
constant (Kd) remained constant for 33 and 50 bp dsDNA strand lengths. These studies indicated that the minimum
binding length for the Ku70/8 is in the vicinity of 25 bp. The specificity of binding of Ku70/80 was proven by
competitive binding FCCS experiments between Cy5-labeled DNA, GFP-Ku70/80 and titrations of unlabeled Ku70/80.
Finally, using FCCS it was possible to estimate the apparent Kd for DNA-PKcs binding to the DNA-Ku70/80 complex
and the induced dissociation of DNA-PKcs from that complex by phosphorylation was observed in real time.
The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which is over-expressed in tumors cells of epithelial origin is one of the
determinants of tumor responses to ionizing radiation. Recently, it has been shown that higher EGFR expression levels
lead to higher tumor resistance to radiation therapy through the activation of cell proliferation and survival pathways. In
this study, a raster-scan imaging technique known as Number and Brightness (N&B) analysis has been employed to
demonstrate the nuclear translocation of EGFR in living cells under a variety of experimental conditions. About 80% of
wild type (WT) EGFR translocated to the nucleus after γ-irradiation while the L858R and ▵E746-E750 mutant EGFR
did not. Subsequently, the effects of γ-irradiation together with an EGFR-blocking antibody (cetuximab) were monitored
simultaneously in the same cell lines expressing EGFR and its mutants. In the combined radiation and cetuximab
treatment, about 26 % of WT were translocated to the nucleus, while the L858R and ▵E746-E750 mutant EGFR did not.
These results are consistent with findings attained by standard molecular techniques and support the hypothesis that a
cytosolic pool of EGFR exists that cannot be accessed by cetuximab and can therefore contribute to treatment resistance.
The kinetics of most proteins involved in DNA damage sensing, signaling and repair following ionizing radiation
exposure cannot be quantified by current live cell fluorescence microscopy methods. This is because most of these
proteins, with only few notable exceptions, do not attach in large numbers at DNA damage sites to form easily detectable
foci in microscopy images. As a result a high fluorescence background from freely moving and immobile fluorescent
proteins in the nucleus masks the aggregation of proteins at sparse DNA damage sites. Currently, the kinetics of these
repair proteins are studied by laser-induced damage and Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching that rely on the
detectability of high fluorescence intensity spots of clustered DNA damage. We report on the use of Number and
Brightness (N&B) analysis methods as a means to monitor kinetics of DNA repair proteins during sparse DNA damage
created by γ-irradiation, which is more relevant to cancer treatment than laser-induced clustered damage. We use two
key double strand break repair proteins, namely Ku 70/80 and the DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit
(DNA-PKCS), as specific examples to showcase the feasibility of the proposed methods to quantify dose-dependent
kinetics for DNA repair proteins after exposure to γ-rays.
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