Functional defects in the fanconi anemia pathway in pancreatic cancer cells

Am J Pathol. 2004 Aug;165(2):651-7. doi: 10.1016/S0002-9440(10)63329-9.

Abstract

Biallelic BRCA2-mutations can cause Fanconi anemia and are found in approximately 7% of pancreatic cancers. Recently, several sequence changes in FANCC and FANCG were reported in pancreatic cancer. Functional defects in the Fanconi pathway can result in a marked hypersensitivity to interstrand crosslinking agents, such as mitomycin C. The functional implications of mutations in the Fanconi pathway in cancer have not been fully studied yet; these studies are needed to pave the way for clinical trials of treatment with crosslinking agents of Fanconi-defective cancers. The competence of the proximal Fanconi pathway was screened in 21 pancreatic cancer cell lines by an assay of Fancd2 monoubiquitination using a Fancd2 immunoblot. The pancreatic cancer cell lines Hs766T and PL11 were defective in Fancd2 monoubiquitination. In PL11, this defect led to the identification of a large homozygous deletion in FANCC, the first cancer cell line found to be FANCC-null. The Fanconi-defective cell lines Hs766T, PL11, and CAPAN1 were hypersensitive to the crosslinking agent mitomycin C and some to cis-platin, as measured by cell survival assays and G(2)/M cell-cycle arrest. These results support the practical exploration of crosslinking agents for non-Fanconi anemia patients that have tumors defective in the Fanconi pathway.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Cell Cycle Proteins*
  • Cisplatin / pharmacology
  • Cross-Linking Reagents / pharmacology
  • DNA Mutational Analysis
  • DNA, Neoplasm / genetics
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / genetics
  • Fanconi Anemia / genetics*
  • Fanconi Anemia / metabolism
  • Fanconi Anemia Complementation Group C Protein
  • Fanconi Anemia Complementation Group D2 Protein
  • Fanconi Anemia Complementation Group G Protein
  • Fanconi Anemia Complementation Group Proteins
  • G2 Phase / drug effects
  • Gene Deletion
  • Homozygote
  • Humans
  • Mitomycin / pharmacology
  • Mitosis / drug effects
  • Nuclear Proteins / genetics*
  • Pancreatic Neoplasms / genetics*
  • Pancreatic Neoplasms / pathology
  • Proteins / genetics
  • Signal Transduction*
  • Tumor Cells, Cultured
  • Ubiquitin / metabolism

Substances

  • Cell Cycle Proteins
  • Cross-Linking Reagents
  • DNA, Neoplasm
  • DNA-Binding Proteins
  • FANCC protein, human
  • FANCD2 protein, human
  • FANCG protein, human
  • Fanconi Anemia Complementation Group C Protein
  • Fanconi Anemia Complementation Group D2 Protein
  • Fanconi Anemia Complementation Group G Protein
  • Fanconi Anemia Complementation Group Proteins
  • Nuclear Proteins
  • Proteins
  • Ubiquitin
  • Mitomycin
  • Cisplatin