Theodore Tzavaras

Hsp70 translocates to the nuclei and nucleoli, binds to XRCC1 and PARP-1, and protects HeLa cells from single-strand DNA breaks

For many years, there has been uncertainty concerning the reason for Hsp70 translocation to the nucleus and nucleolus. Herein, we propose that Hsp70 translocates to the nucleus and nucleoli in order to participate in pathways related to the protection of the nucleoplasmic DNA or ribosomal DNA from single-strand breaks. The absence of Hsp70 in HeLa cells, via Hsp70 gene silencing (knockdown), indicated the essential role of Hsp70 in DNA integrity. Therefore, HeLa Hsp70 depleted cells were very sensitive in heat treatment and their DNA breaks were multiple compared to that of control HeLa cells. The molecular mechanism with which Hsp70 performs its role at the level of nucleus and nucleolus during stress was examined. Hsp70 co-localizes with PARP1 in the nucleus/nucleoli as was observed in confocal studies and binds to the BCRT domain of PARP1 as was revealed with protein–protein interaction assays. It was also found that Hsp70 binds simultaneously to XRCC1 and PARP-1, indicating that Hsp70 function takes place at the level of DNA repair and possibly at the base excision repair system. Making a hypothetical model, we have suggested that Hsp70 is the molecule that binds and interrelates with PARP1 creating the repair proteins simultaneously, such as XRCC1, at the single-strand DNA breaks. Our data partially clarify a previously unrecognized cellular response to heat stress. Finally, we can speculate that Hsp70 plays a role in the quality and integrity of DNA.

Retrotransposon RNA expression and evidence for retrotransposition events in human oocytes

Although human diseases of retrotransposition-derived etiology have been documented, retrotransposon RNA expression and the occurrence of retrotransposition events in the human oocyte are not studied. We investigated the RNA expression of L1 and HERV-K10 retrotransposons in human oocytes by RT-PCR analysis with designed primers. Using denucleated germinal vesicles (GVs), we detected RT-PCR products of expressed L1, HERV-K10 and, unexpectedly, SINE-R, VNTR and Alu (SVA) retrotransposons. Their transcript specificities were identified as such following RNA-FISH and their origin by cloning and sequence alignment analyses. Assessing the expression level in comparison with somatic cells by densitometry analysis, we found that although in normal lymphocytes and transformed HeLa cells their profile was in an order of L1 > HERV-K10 > SVA, remarkably this was reversed in oocytes. To investigate whether de novo retrotransposition events occur and reverse transcriptases are expressed in the human oocyte, we introduced in GVs either a retrotransposition active human L1 or mouse reverse transcriptase deficient-VL30 retrotransposon tagged with an EGFP-based retrotransposition cassette. Interestingly, in both the cases, we observed EGFP-positive oocytes, associated with an abnormal morphology for L1 and granulation for VL30, and the retrotransposition events were confirmed by PCR. Our results: (i) show that L1, HERV-K10 and SVA retrotransposons are transcriptionally expressed and (ii) provide evidence, for the first time, for retrotransposition events occurring in the human oocyte. These findings suggest that both, network of retrotransposon transcripts and controlled retrotranspositions, might serve important functions required for oocyte development and fertilization while the uncontrolled ones might explain the onset of genetic disorders.

Vanadium‐induced apoptosis of HaCaT cells is mediated by c‐fos and involves nuclear accumulation of clusterin

Vanadium exerts a variety of biological effects, including antiproliferative responses through activation of the respective signaling pathways and the generation of reactive oxygen species. As epidermal cells are exposed to environmental insults, human keratinocytes (HaCaT) were used to investigate the mechanism of the antiproliferative effects of vanadyl(IV) sulfate (VOSO4). Treatment of HaCaT cells with VOSO4 inhibited proliferation and induced apoptosis in a dose‐dependent manner. Inhibition of proliferation was associated with downregulation of cyclins D1 and E, E2F1, and the cyclin‐dependent kinase inhibitors p21Cip1/Waf1 and p27Kip1. Induction of apoptosis correlated with upregulation of the c‐fos oncoprotein, changes in the expression of clusterin (CLU), an altered ratio of antiapoptotic to proapoptotic Bcl‐2 protein family members, and poly(ADP‐ribose) polymerase‐1 cleavage. Forced overexpression of c‐fos induced apoptosis in HaCaT cells that correlated with secretory CLU downregulation and upregulation of nuclear CLU (nCLU), a pro‐death protein. Overexpression of Bcl‐2 protected HaCaT cells from vanadium‐induced apoptosis, whereas secretory CLU overexpression offered no cytoprotection. In contrast, nCLU sensitized HaCaT cells to apoptosis. Our data suggest that vanadium‐mediated apoptosis was promoted by c‐fos, leading to alterations in CLU isoform processing and induction of the pro‐death nCLU protein.

VL30 retrotransposition signals activation of a caspase-independent and p53-dependent death pathway associated with mitochondrial and lysosomal damage

The impact of long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposition on cell fate is unknown. Here, we investigated the effect of VL30 retrotransposition on cell death in SV40-transformed mouse SVTT1 cells. Transfection of a VL30 retrotransposon decreased the clonogenicity of SVTT1 by 17-fold, as compared to parental NIH3T3 cells. Correlated levels of retrotransposition frequency and cell death rates were found in retrotransposition-positive SVTT1 cloned cells, exhibiting DNA fragmentation, nuclear condensation, multinucleation and cytoplasmic vacuolization. Analysis of activation of effector caspases revealed a caspase-independent cell death mechanism. However, cell death was associated with p53 induction and concomitant upregulation of PUMAα and Bax and downregulation of Bcl-2 and Hsp70 protein expression. Moreover, we found partial loss of colocalization of large T-antigen (LT)/p53 and p53 translocation to mitochondria, leading to mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization (MOMP) accompanied by lysosomal membrane permeabilization (LMP). Interestingly, treatment with the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine abolished cell death, suggesting the involvement of mitochondrial-derived reactive oxygen species, and resulted in an increase of retrotransposition frequency. Importantly, the induction of cell death was VL30 retrotransposon-specific as VL30 mobilization was induced; in contrast, mobilization of the non-LTR L1 (LINE-1, long interspersed nuclear element-1), B2 and LTR MusD retrotransposons decreased. Our results provide, for the first time, strong evidence that VL30 retrotransposition mediates cell death via mitochondrial and lysosomal damage, uncovering the role of retrotransposition as a nuclear signal activating a mitochondrial-lysosomal crosstalk in triggering cell death.

Arsenic induces VL30 retrotransposition: the involvement of oxidative stress and heat-shock protein 70.

Arsenic is an environmental contaminant with known cytotoxic and carcinogenic properties, but the cellular mechanisms of its action are not fully known. As retrotransposition consists a potent mutagenic factor affecting genome stability, we investigated the effect of arsenic on retrotransposition of an enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)-tagged nonautonomous long terminal repeat (LTR)-retrotransposon viral-like 30 (VL30) in a mouse NIH3T3 cell culture-retrotransposition assay. Flow cytometry analysis of assay cells treated with 2.5-20μM sodium arsenite revealed induction of retrotransposition events in a dose- and time-dependent manner, which was further confirmed as genomic integrations by PCR analysis and appearance of EGFP-positive cells by UV microscopy. Specifically, 20μM sodium arsenite strongly induced the VL30 retrotransposition frequency, which was ~90,000-fold higher than the natural one and also VL30 RNA expression was ~6.6-fold. Inhibition of the activity of endogenous reverse transcriptases by efavirenz at 15μM or nevirapine at 375μM suppressed the arsenite-induced VL30 retrotransposition by 71.16 or 79.88%, respectively. In addition, the antioxidant N-acetyl-cysteine reduced the level of arsenite-induced retrotransposition, which correlated with the rescue of arsenite-induced G2/M cell cycle arrest and cell toxicity. Treatment of assay cells ectopically overexpressing the human heat-shock protein 70 (Hsp70) with 15μM sodium arsenite resulted in an additional ~4.5-fold induction of retrotransposition compared with normal assay cells, whereas treatment with 20μM produced a massive cell death. Our results show for the first time that arsenic both as an oxidative and heat-shock mimicking agent is a potent inducer of VL30 retrotransposition in mouse cells. The impact of arsenic-induced retrotransposition, as a cellular response, on contribution to or explanation of the arsenic-associated toxicity and carcinogenicity is discussed.

Senescence-associated microRNAs target cell cycle regulatory genes in normal human lung fibroblasts

Abstract Senescence recapitulates the ageing process at the cell level. A senescent cell stops dividing and exits the cell cycle. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) acting as master regulators of transcription, have been implicated in senescence. In the current study we investigated and compared the expression of miRNAs in young versus senescent human fibroblasts (HDFs), and analysed the role of mRNAs expressed in replicative senescent HFL‐1 HDFs. Cell cycle analysis confirmed that HDFs accumulated in G1/S cell cycle phase. Nanostring analysis of isolated miRNAs from young and senescent HFL‐1 showed that a distinct set of 15 miRNAs were significantly up‐regulated in senescent cells including hsa‐let‐7d‐5p, hsa‐let‐7e‐5p, hsa‐miR‐23a‐3p, hsa‐miR‐34a‐5p, hsa‐miR‐122‐5p, hsa‐miR‐125a‐3p, hsa‐miR‐125a‐5p, hsa‐miR‐125b‐5p, hsa‐miR‐181a‐5p, hsa‐miR‐221‐3p, hsa‐miR‐222‐3p, hsa‐miR‐503‐5p, hsa‐miR‐574‐3p, hsa‐miR‐574‐5p and hsa‐miR‐4454. Importantly, pathway analysis of miRNA target genes down‐regulated during replicative senescence in a public RNA‐seq data set revealed a significant high number of genes regulating cell cycle progression, both G1/S and G2/M cell cycle phase transitions and telomere maintenance. The reduced expression of selected miRNA targets, upon replicative and oxidative‐stress induced senescence, such as the cell cycle effectors E2F1, CcnE, Cdc6, CcnB1 and Cdc25C was verified at the protein and/or RNA levels. Induction of G1/S cell cycle phase arrest and down‐regulation of cell cycle effectors correlated with the up‐regulation of miR‐221 upon both replicative and oxidative stress‐induced senescence. Transient expression of miR‐221/222 in HDFs promoted the accumulation of HDFs in G1/S cell cycle phase. We propose that miRNAs up‐regulated during replicative senescence may act in concert to induce cell cycle phase arrest and telomere erosion, establishing a senescent phenotype. HighlightsIdentification of a small set of senescence‐associated microRNAs (SA‐miRs).SA‐miRs target genes regulating cell cycle progression and telomere maintenance.MiR‐221 is up‐regulated during replicative and oxidative stress induced senescenceMiR‐221/222 targets cell cycle effectors.

Abnormal DLK1/MEG3 imprinting correlates with decreased HERV-K methylation after assisted reproduction and preimplantation genetic diagnosis

Abstract Retrotransposons participate in cellular responses elicited by stress, and DNA methylation plays an important role in retrotransposon silencing and genomic imprinting during mammalian development. Assisted reproduction technologies (ARTs) may be associated with increased stress and risk of epigenetic changes in the conceptus. There are similarities in the nature and regulation of LTR retrotransposons and imprinted genes. Here, we investigated whether the methylation status of Human Endogenous Retroviruses (HERV)-K LTR retrotransposons and the imprinting signatures of the DLK1/MEG3. p57KIP2 and IGF2/H19 gene loci are linked during early human embryogenesis by examining trophoblast samples from ART pregnancies and preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) cases and matched naturally conceived controls. Methylation analysis revealed that HERV-Ks were totally methylated in the majority of controls while, in contrast, an altered pattern was detected in ART-PGD samples that were characterized by a hemi-methylated status. Importantly, DLK1/MEG3 demonstrated disturbed methylation in ART-PGD samples compared to controls and this was associated with altered HERV-K methylation. No differences were detected in p57KIP2 and IGF2/H19 methylation patterns between ART-PGD and naturally conceived controls. Using bioinformatics, we found that while the genome surrounding the p57KIP2 and IGF2/H19 genes differentially methylated regions had low coverage in transposable element (TE) sequences, the respective one of DLK1/MEG3 was characterized by an almost 2-fold higher coverage. Moreover, our analyses revealed the presence of KAP1-binding sites residing within retrotransposon sequences only in the DLK1/MEG3 locus. Our results demonstrate that altered HERV-K methylation in the ART-PGD conceptuses is correlated with abnormal imprinting of the DLK1/MEG3 locus and suggest that TEs may be affecting the establishment of genomic imprinting under stress conditions.

Retrotransposon expression and incorporation of cloned human and mouse retroelements in human spermatozoa

OBJECTIVE To investigate the expression of long interspersed element (LINE) 1, human endogenous retrovirus (HERV) K10, and short interspersed element-VNTR-Alu element (SVA) retrotransposons in ejaculated human spermatozoa by means of reverse-transcription (RT) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis as well as the potential incorporation of cloned human and mouse active retroelements in human sperm cell genome. DESIGN Laboratory study. SETTING University research laboratories and academic hospital. PATIENT(S) Normozoospermic and oligozoospermic white men. INTERVENTION(S) RT-PCR analysis was performed to confirm the retrotransposon expression in human spermatozoa. Exogenous retroelements were tagged with a plasmid containing a green fluorescence (EGFP) retrotransposition cassette, and the de novo retrotransposition events were tested with the use of PCR, fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis, and confocal microscopy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S) Retroelement expression in human spermatozoa, incorporation of cloned human and mouse active retroelements in human sperm genome, and de novo retrotransposition events in human spermatozoa. RESULT(S) RT-PCR products of expressed human LINE-1, HERV-K10, and SVA retrotransposons were observed in ejaculated human sperm samples. The incubation of human spermatozoa with either retrotransposition-active human LINE-1 and HERV-K10 or mouse reverse transcriptase-deficient VL30 retrotransposons tagged with an EGFP-based retrotransposition cassette led to EGFP-positive spermatozo; 16.67% of the samples were positive for retrotransposition. The respective retrotransposition frequencies for the LINE-1, HERV-K10, and VL30 retrotransposons in the positive samples were 0.34 ± 0.13%, 0.37 ± 0.17%, and 0.30 ± 0.14% per sample of 10,000 spermatozoa. CONCLUSION(S) Our results show that: 1) LINE-1, HERV-K10, and SVA retrotransposons are transcriptionally expressed in human spermatozoa; 2) cloned active retroelements of human and mammalian origin can be incorporated in human sperm genome; 3) active reverse transcriptases exist in human spermatozoa; and 4) de novo retrotransposition events occur in human spermatozoa.

H2O2 signals via iron induction of VL30 retrotransposition correlated with cytotoxicity.

The impact of oxidative stress on mobilization of endogenous retroviruses and their effects on cell fate is unknown. We investigated the action of H2O2 on retrotransposition of an EGFP-tagged mouse LTR-retrotransposon, VL30, in an NIH3T3 cell-retrotransposition assay. H2O2 treatment of assay cells caused specific retrotranspositions documented by UV microscopy and PCR analysis. Flow cytometric analysis revealed an unusually high dose- and time-dependent retrotransposition frequency induced, ∼420,000-fold at 40 μM H2O2 compared to the natural frequency, which was reduced by ectopic expression of catalase. Remarkably, H2O2 moderately induced the RNA expression of retrotransposon B2 without affecting the basal expression of VL30s and L1 and significantly induced the expression of various endogenous reverse transcriptase genes. Further, whereas treatment with 50 μM FeCl2 alone was ineffective, cotreatment with 10 μM H2O2 and 50 μM FeCl2 caused a 6-fold higher retrotransposition induction than H2O2 alone, which was associated with cytotoxicity. H2O2- or H2O2/FeCl2-induced retrotransposition was significantly reduced by the iron chelator DFO or the antioxidant NAC, respectively. Furthermore, both H2O2-induced retrotransposition and associated cytotoxicity were inhibited after pretreatment of cells with DFO or the reverse transcriptase inhibitors efavirenz and etravirine. Our data show for the first time that H2O2, acting via iron, is a potent stimulus of retrotransposition contributing to oxidative stress-induced cell damage.