Reduced activity of double-strand break repair genes in prostate cancer patients with late normal tissue radiation toxicity.

PURPOSE: To investigate clinical parameters and DNA damage response as possible risk factors for radiation toxicity in the setting of prostate cancer. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Clinical parameters of 61 prostate cancer patients, 34 with (overresponding, OR) and 27 without (non-responding, NR) severe late radiation toxicity were assembled. In addition, for a matched subset the DNA damage repair kinetics (γ-H2AX assay) and expression profiles of DNA repair genes were determined in ex vivo irradiated lymphocytes. RESULTS: Examination of clinical data indicated none of the considered clinical parameters to be correlated with the susceptibility of patients to develop late radiation toxicity. Although frequencies of γ-H2AX foci induced immediately after irradiation were similar (P=.32), significantly higher numbers of γ-H2AX foci were found 24 hours after irradiation in OR compared with NR patients (P=.03). Patient-specific γ-H2AX foci decay ratios were significantly higher in NR patients than in OR patients (P<.0001). Consequently, NR patients seem to repair DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) more efficiently than OR patients. Moreover, gene expression analysis indicated several genes of the homologous recombination pathway to be stronger induced in NR compared with OR patients (P<.05). A similar trend was observed in genes of the nonhomologous end-joining repair pathway (P=.09). This is congruent with more proficient repair of DNA DSBs in patients without late radiation toxicity. CONCLUSIONS: Both gene expression profiling and DNA DSB repair kinetics data imply that less-efficient repair of radiation-induced DSBs may contribute to the development of late normal tissue damage. Induction levels of DSB repair genes (eg, RAD51) may potentially be used to assess the risk for late radiation toxicity.

Decay of γ-H2AX foci correlates with potentially lethal damage repair in prostate cancer cells.

To determine the relationship between ionizing radiation-induced levels of γ-H2AX foci and cell survival in cultured prostate cancer cell lines, three prostate cancer cell lines: LNCaP (wt TP53), DU145 (mut TP53) and PC3 (TP53 null), were studied. For γ-H2AX foci induction, cells were irradiated with a single dose of 2 Gy and foci levels were studied at 30 min and 24 h after irradiation. Cell survival was determined by clonogenic assay, directly and 24 h after irradiation with doses ranging from 0 to 8 Gy. Irradiation was performed with a Siemens Stabilipan 250 KeV X-ray machine at a dose rate of approximately 3 Gy/min. Survival curves were analyzed using the linear-quadratic model S(D)/S(0)=exp-(αD+ßD2). LNCaP cells clearly demonstrated potentially lethal damage repair (PLDR) which was assessed as increased survival levels after delayed plating as compared to cells plated immediately after irradiation. DU145 cells demonstrated only a slight PLDR and PC3 cells did not show PLDR at all. Levels of γ-H2AX foci were significantly decreased in all cell lines at 24 h after irradiation, compared to levels after 30 min. The LNCaP cells which demonstrated a clear PLDR also showed the largest decay in the number of γ-H2AX foci. In addition, the PC cells which did not show PLDR had the lowest decay of γ-H2AX foci. A clear correlation was demonstrated between the degree of decay of γ-H2AX foci and PLDR.

Gene copy number reduction in the azoospermia factor c (AZFc) region and its effect on total motile sperm count.

The azoospermia factor c (AZFc) region harbors multi-copy genes that are expressed in the testis. Deletions of the AZFc region lead to reduced copy numbers of these genes. Four (partial) AZFc deletions have been described of which the b2/b4 and gr/gr deletions affect semen quality. In most studies, (partial) AZFc deletions are identified and characterized using plus/minus sequence site tag (STS) polymerase chain reaction (PCR). However, secondary duplications increase the gene copy number without re-introducing the STS boundary marker. Consequently, the actual copy number of AZFc genes cannot be determined via STS PCR. In the current study, we first set out to determine by quantitative real-time PCR the actual copy number of all AZFc genes in men with (partial) AZFc deletions based on STS PCR. We then analyzed whether reduced gene copy numbers of each AZFc gene family were associated with reduced total motile sperm count (TMC), regardless of the type of deletion. We screened 840 men and identified 31 unrelated men with (partial) deletions of AZFc based on STS PCR. Of these 31 men, 6 men (19%) had one or more secondary duplications. For all AZFc genes, we found an association between a reduction in the copy number of each individual AZFc gene and reduced TMC. In gr/gr-deleted men, restoration of reduced gene copy numbers restored their TMC to normal values. Our findings suggest that the gene content of the AZFc region has been preserved throughout evolution through a dosage effect of the AZFc genes on TMC safeguarding male fertility.

Y chromosome TSPY copy numbers and semen quality.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether variation in testis-specific protein Y-encoded (TSPY) gene copy number affects semen quality. DESIGN: Nested case-control study. SETTING: University hospital. PATIENT(S): From a consecutive cohort of 1,016 male partners of subfertile couples, unselected for sperm counts, we selected as cases 100 men with the lowest total number of progressively motile sperm (TMC) and as controls, 100 men with the highest total number of progressively motile sperm. INTERVENTION(S): Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Southern blot to determine TSPY copy number. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): TSPY copy number. RESULT(S): The quantitative PCR method showed excellent agreement with the Southern blot analysis. Cases had a median TSPY copy number of 35 (range 20-73), whereas controls had a median TSPY copy number of 34 (range 26-76). This difference was not statistically significant. CONCLUSION(S): We found no association between TSPY copy numbers and severe spermatogenic failure. The observed variation in TSPY copy number therefore appears to have no functional consequences for semen quality.