First published online 2 September 2003
doi: 10.1242/jcs.00740
Endopolyploid cells produced after severe genotoxic damage have the potential to repair DNA double strand breaks
Andrei Ivanov1,3,*,
Mark S. Cragg2,*,
Jekaterina Erenpreisa3,
Dzintars Emzinsh4,
Henny Lukman1 and
Timothy M. Illidge1,
1 Cancer Research UK, Wessex Oncology Unit, Cancer Sciences Division, School of Medicine, Southampton University Hospital, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK
2 Tenovus Research Laboratory, Cancer Sciences Division, School of Medicine, Southampton University Hospital, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK
3 Biomedical Research and Study Center, Latvian University, Ratsupites 1, Riga, LV-1067, Latvia
4 Oncology Center of Latvia, Riga, Latvia

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Fig. 1. Typical changes in the levels of apoptosis (A), G1 (B), G2/M (C) and polyploidy (D) observed in Namalwa (open square), W1-L2-NS (black circle) and TK6 (open triangle) cells after 10 Gy irradiation. Cells were irradiated and then samples taken regularly throughout a 14-day time course and assessed by DNA flow cytometry to determine the proportion of cells in each phase of the cell cycle. The data represent mean values with associated standard deviations taken from 6-10 experiments.
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Fig. 2. Mitoses observed over the time course after irradiation in two p53 mutated cell lines. (A) After 10 Gy irradiation, cell samples were taken for 4 days and assessed by western blotting for the presence of p34cdc2 and Tyr15-phosphorylated p34cdc2. The delay in G2 for Namalwa and WI-L2-NS cells shown in Fig. 1 was associated with prominent Tyr15 phosphorylation of p34cdc2 thus indicating a decrease in p34cdc2 activity. The control level of p34cdc2 activity was restored by day 3 (WI-L2-NS) or 4 (Namalwa) after irradiation. (B) The number of cells undergoing mitosis was assessed every day for 10 days by light microscopy, compared with untreated control cells and expressed as the mitotic index. These data show that adaptation of G2 arrest was followed by accumulation of WI-L2-NS (black diamonds) and Namalwa (open square) cells in mitosis. The drop in mitosis in the Namalwa cell line after 10 Gy, following the initial accumulation, is a result of mitotic failure. These data represent averages from three experiments and bars represent standard deviations.
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Fig. 3. Kinetics of -H2AX and Rad51 foci formation in Namalwa and WI-L2-NS cells after irradiation. (A,B) Starting from 3 minutes after 10 Gy irradiation, cell samples were taken, cytospun, fixed and stained for -H2AX and the amount of cells expressing -H2AX foci scored by immunofluorescent microscopy. (A) A histogram representing the relative frequencies of -H2AX foci per Namalwa cell, 24 hours after irradiation. The number of -H2AX foci per nucleus appeared to be dose dependent with a median number of foci of 14, 30 and 42 for 5, 10 and 15 Gy, respectively. (B) The proportion of the -H2AX foci-containing cells 24 hours post-irradiation was 100% and remained high for 2 days for Namalwa (open square) and 4 days for WI-L2-NS (black circle) cells. Then it consequently decreased reaching nearly zero for Namalwa on day 7 and 6.5% for WI-L2-NS cells on day 8. Inset: immunoblotting analysis of Namalwa whole cell lysates of -H2AX, 24 hours after irradiation. (C) The abundance of Namalwa (open aquare) and WIL2-NS (black circle) cells with Rad51 foci was detected on days 2 to 6-7 after 10 Gy irradiation. Cell samples were taken, cytospun, fixed and stained for Rad51 and the amount of cells expressing Rad51 foci scored by immunofluorescent microscopy. Insert: immunoblotting for Rad51 expression level. No difference in the overall level of Rad51 protein was found between untreated and irradiated cells. Data represent averages from at least three experiments±s.e.m.
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Fig. 4. Detection of DNA strand breaks by comet assay in Namalwa cells, 1 or 7 days after irradiation. After treatment and incubation for the desired time, cells were embedded in agarose and subjected to electrophoresis at pH 12.1. This alkaline electrophoresis allows the detection of single and double DNA strand breaks. The tail moment (% of migrated DNA x tail length) was measured using Scion image software and a comet assay macro. (A) 96% of non-irradiated Namalwa cells had a tail moment of between 2000 and 8000. (B) On day 1 after 10 Gy irradiation, nearly all of the cells had a tail moment greater than 10,000, providing evidence that DNA strand breaks were not repaired within 24 hours. (C) The vast majority of Namalwa polyploid cells (arrows) on day 7 post irradiation displayed tail moments similar to non-irradiated control cells. Overall, 75.2% of non-apoptotic cells on day 7 had tail moment values equal to those observed in controls. (D) Frequency histograms representing the distribution of tail moments in non-irradiated control Namalwa cells and cells on days 1 and 7 after 10 Gy irradiation.
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Fig. 7. Protection of polyploid cells from apoptosis. After irradiation, cell samples were taken and assessed by two-channel FACS analysis for Annexin V and PI. Subsequently, cells were characterised according to their DNA content and the percentage of Annexin V-positive cells in each fraction compared. (A) The comparison of the proportion of Annexin V-positive Namalwa (A) and WI-L2-NS (B) cells in the 2C-4C (black squares) and >4C (black circles) ploidy fractions on days 2-4 after irradiation. For both Namalwa (P<0.01) and WI-L2-NS (P<0.02) cells, significant differences were detected (Student's t-test). Data represent mean values from three to five experiments±s.e.m. (C) In unirradiated control cells, 85% of Annexin V-positive cells showed PI fluorescence related to 2C-4C cells. (D) The proportion of Annexin V-positive cells was assessed on day 4 after 10 Gy in relation to the actual ploidy value. As can be seen, irradiation was gradually decreasing with each step of ploidy increase, suggesting the protection of endopolyploid cells or their positive selection by apoptosis, accompanying each round of DNA replication. (E) After irradiation, Namalwa cell samples were taken on day 3, stained and assessed by immunofluorescent microscopy for Annexin V (FITC, green) and Rad51 (Alexa Fluor 633; red). Annexin-V-positive apoptotic cells are Rad51-foci-negative and vice versa. DNA is counterstained with DAPI (blue). Scale bar: 40 µm.
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© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2003