Telomeric DNA Induces Apoptosis and Senescence of Human Breast Carcinoma Cells
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Date
2007-1-26
DOI
Authors
Yaar, Mina
Eller, Mark S.
Panova, Izabela
Kubera, John
Wee, Lee Hng
Cowan, Kenneth H.
Gilchrest, Barbara A.
Version
OA Version
Citation
Yaar, Mina, Mark S Eller, Izabela Panova, John Kubera, Lee Hng Wee, Kenneth H Cowan, Barbara A Gilchrest. "Telomeric DNA induces apoptosis and senescence of human breast carcinoma cells" Breast Cancer Research 9(1):R13. (2007)
Abstract
INTRODUCTION. Cancer is a leading cause of death in Americans. We have identified an inducible cancer avoidance mechanism in cells that reduces mutation rate, reduces and delays carcinogenesis after carcinogen exposure, and induces apoptosis and/or senescence of already transformed cells by simultaneously activating multiple overlapping and redundant DNA damage response pathways. METHODS. The human breast carcinoma cell line MCF-7, the adriamycin-resistant MCF-7 (Adr/MCF-7) cell line, as well as normal human mammary epithelial (NME) cells were treated with DNA oligonucleotides homologous to the telomere 3' overhang (T-oligos). SCID mice received intravenous injections of MCF-7 cells followed by intravenous administration of T-oligos. RESULTS. Acting through ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) and its downstream effectors, T-oligos induced apoptosis and senescence of MCF-7 cells but not NME cells, in which these signaling pathways were induced to a far lesser extent. In MCF-7 cells, experimental telomere loop disruption caused identical responses, consistent with the hypothesis that T-oligos act by mimicking telomere overhang exposure. In vivo, T-oligos greatly prolonged survival of SCID mice following intravenous injection of human breast carcinoma cells. CONCLUSION. By inducing DNA damage-like responses in MCF-7 cells, T-oligos provide insight into innate cancer avoidance mechanisms and may offer a novel approach to treatment of breast cancer and other malignancies.
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Copyright 2007 Yaar et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.