Clinical relevance of human cancer xenografts as a tool for preclinical assessment: example of in-vivo evaluation of topotecan-based chemotherapy in a panel of human small-cell lung cancer xenografts.

Prediction of human tumor response based on preclinical data could reduce the failure rates of subsequent new anticancer drugs clinical development. Human small-cell lung carcinomas (SCLC) are characterized by high initial sensitivity to chemotherapy but a low median survival time because of drug resistance. The aim of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic relevance of a panel of human SCLC xenografts established in our laboratory using one compromising drug in SCLC, topotecan (TPT). Six SCLC xenografts derived from six patients were used: three were sensitive to a combination of etoposide (VP16), cisplatin (CDDP), and ifosfamide (IFO), and three were resistant, as published earlier. Growth inhibition was greater than 84% for five xenografts at doses of 1-2 mg/kg/day. TPT was combined with IFO, etoposide (VP16), and CDDP. IFO improved the efficacy of TPT in three of the five xenografts and complete responses were obtained even with the less TPT-sensitive xenograft. VP16 increased the efficacy of two of four xenografts and complete responses were obtained. The combination of TPT and CDDP did not improve TPT responses for any of the xenografts tested. Semiquantitative reverse transcriptase-PCR of genes involved in drug response, such as topoisomerase I, topoisomerase IIalpha, multidrug resistance 1 (MDR1), multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP), lung resistance-related protein (LRP), and glutathione S-transferase pi (GSTpi), did not explain the variability in drug sensitivity between SCLC xenografts. In conclusion, these preclinical data mirror those from published clinical studies suggesting that our panel of SCLC xenografts represents a useful tool for preclinical assessment of new treatments.

Arrested replication fork processing: interplay between checkpoints and recombination.

The arrest of DNA replication by DNA damage, nucleotide depletion, DNA-protein complexes or following clashes between transcription and replication factors all have the capacity to promote genome instability. In this review, we discuss how DNA replication is regulated by the checkpoint pathways that stabilise arrested replication forks and the recombination factors that process specific DNA structures resulting from fork arrest. We examine what is known about the interplay between the checkpoints and the recombination apparatus and review the evidence for a recombination-based fork restart pathway in eukaryotes.

Cleavage of stalled forks by fission yeast Mus81/Eme1 in absence of DNA replication checkpoint.

During replication arrest, the DNA replication checkpoint plays a crucial role in the stabilization of the replisome at stalled forks, thus preventing the collapse of active forks and the formation of aberrant DNA structures. How this checkpoint acts to preserve the integrity of replication structures at stalled fork is poorly understood. In Schizosaccharomyces pombe, the DNA replication checkpoint kinase Cds1 negatively regulates the structure-specific endonuclease Mus81/Eme1 to preserve genomic integrity when replication is perturbed. Here, we report that, in response to hydroxyurea (HU) treatment, the replication checkpoint prevents S-phase-specific DNA breakage resulting from Mus81 nuclease activity. However, loss of Mus81 regulation by Cds1 is not sufficient to produce HU-induced DNA breaks. Our results suggest that unscheduled cleavage of stalled forks by Mus81 is permitted when the replisome is not stabilized by the replication checkpoint. We also show that HU-induced DNA breaks are partially dependent on the Rqh1 helicase, the fission yeast homologue of BLM, but are independent of its helicase activity. This suggests that efficient cleavage of stalled forks by Mus81 requires Rqh1. Finally, we identified an interplay between Mus81 activity at stalled forks and the Chk1-dependent DNA damage checkpoint during S-phase when replication forks have collapsed.