From genes to radioresistance in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Head and Neck Cancers (HNC) are a group of tumours located in the upper aero-digestive tract. Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC) represent about 90% of all HNC cases. It has been considered the sixth most malignant tumour worldwide and, despite clinical and technological advances, the five-year survival rate has not improved much in the last years. Nowadays, HNSCC is well established as a heterogeneous disease and that its development is due to accumulation of genetic events. Apart from the majority of the patients being diagnosed in an advanced stage, HNSCC is also a disease with poor therapeutic outcome. One of the therapeutic approaches is radiotherapy. However, this approach has different drawbacks like the radioresistance acquired by some tumour cells, leading to a worse prognosis. A major knowledge in radiation biology is imperative to improve this type of treatment and avoid late toxicities, maintaining patient quality of life in the subsequent years after treatment. Then, identification of genetic markers associated to radiotherapy response in patients and possible alterations in cells after radiotherapy are essential steps towards an improved diagnosis, higher survival rate and a better life quality. Not much is known about the radiation effects on cells, so, the principal aim of this study was to contribute to a more extensive knowledge about radiation treatment in HNSCC. For this, two commercial cell lines, HSC-3 and BICR-10, were used and characterized resorting to karyotyping, aCGH and MS-MLPA. These cell lines were submitted to different doses of irradiation and the resulting genetic and methylation alterations were evaluated. Our results showed a great difference in radiation response between the two cell lines, allowing the conclusion that HSC-3 was much more radiosensitive than BICR-10. Bearing this in mind, analysis of cell death, cell cycle and DNA damages was performed to try to elucidate the motifs behind this difference. The characterization of both cell lines allowed the confirmation that HSC-3 was derived from a metastatic tumour and the hypothesis that BICR-10 was derived from a dysplasia. Furthermore, this pilot study enabled the suggestion of some genetic and epigenetic alterations that cells suffer after radiation treatment. Additionally, it also allowed the association of some genetic characteristics that could be related to the differences in radiation response observable in this two cell lines. Taken together all of our results contribute to a better understanding of radiation effects on HNSCC allowing one further step towards the prediction of patients’ outcome, better choice of treatment approaches and ultimately a better quality of life.

Molecular study of cell degeneration and evolution induced by mRNA mistranslation

As proteínas existentes nas células são produzidas pelo mecanismo de tradução do mRNA, no qual a informação genética contida nos genes é descodificada em cadeias polipeptídicas. O código genético, que define as regras de descodificação do genoma, minimiza os erros de tradução do mRNA, garantindo a síntese de proteínas com elevada fidelidade. Esta é essencial para a estabilidade do proteoma e para a manutenção e funcionamento dos processos celulares. Em condições fisiológicas normais, os erros da tradução do mRNA ocorrem com frequências que variam de 10-3 a 10-5 erros por codão descodificado. Situações que aumentam este erro basal geralmente estão associadas ao envelhecimento, stresse e a doenças; no entanto, em certos organismos o código genético é traduzido naturalmente com elevado erro, indicando que a síntese de proteínas aberrantes pode de algum modo ser vantajosa. A fim de estudar a resposta celular aos erros de tradução do mRNA, construímos leveduras que incorporam serina no proteoma em resposta a um codão de leucina, usando a expressão constitutiva de um tRNASer mutante. Este fenómeno genético artificial provocou uma forte diminuição da esporulação, da viabilidade e da eficiência de mating, afectando imensamente a reprodução sexual da levedura. Observou-se também uma grande heterogeneidade no tamanho e na forma das células e elevada instabilidade genómica, com o aparecimento de populações poliplóides e aneuplóides. No sentido de clarificar as bases celulares e moleculares daqueles fenótipos e compreender melhor a biologia do erro de tradução do mRNA, construímos também células de levedura que inserem serina em resposta a um codão de leucina de modo indutível e controlado. Utilizaram-se perfis de mRNA total e de mRNA associado a polissomas para elucidar a resposta celular ao erro de tradução do mRNA. Observou-se a indução de genes envolvidos na resposta ao stresse geral, stresse oxidativo e na unfolded protein response (UPR). Um aumento significativo de espécies reactivas de oxigénio (ROS) e um forte impacto negativo na capacidade das células pós-mitóticas re-iniciarem o crescimento foram também observados. Este fenótipo de perda de viabilidade celular foi resgatado por scavangers de ROS, indicando que o stresse oxidativo é a principal causa de morte celular causada pelos erros de tradução. Este estudo levanta a hipótese de que o stresse oxidativo e a acumulação de ROS, ao invés do colapso súbito do proteoma, são as principais causas da degeneração celular e das doenças humanas associadas aos erros de tradução do genoma. ABSTRACT: Proteins are synthesized through the mechanism of translation, which uses the genetic code to transform the nucleic acids based information of the genome into the amino acids based information of the proteome. The genetic code evolved in such a manner that translational errors are kept to a minimum and even when they occur their impact is minimized by similar chemical properties of the amino acids. Protein synthesis fidelity is essential for proteome stability and for functional maintenance of cellular processes. Indeed, under normal physiological conditions, mistranslation occurs at frequencies that range from 10-3 to 10-5 errors per codon decoded. Situations where this basal error frequency increases are usually associated to aging and disease. However, there are some organisms where genetic code errors occur naturally at high level, suggesting that mRNA mistranslation can somehow be beneficial. In order to study the cellular response to mRNA mistranslation, we have engineered single codon mistranslation in yeast cells, using constitutive expression of mutant tRNASer genes. These mistranslating strains inserted serines at leucine-CUG sites on a proteome wide scale due to competition between the wild type tRNALeu with the mutant tRNASer. Such mistranslation event decreased yeast sporulation, viability and mating efficiencies sharply and affected sexual reproduction strongly. High heterogeneity in cell size and shape and high instability in the genome were also observed, with the appearance of some polyploid or aneuploid cell populations. To further study the cellular and molecular basis of those phenotypes and the biology of mRNA mistranslation, we have also engineered inducible mRNA misreading in yeast and used total mRNA and polysome associated mRNA profiling to determine whether codon misreading affects gene expression. Induced mistranslation up-regulated genes involved in the general stress response, oxidative stress and in the unfolded protein response (UPR). A significant increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) and a strong negative impact on the capacity of post-mitotic cells to re-initiate growth in fresh media were also observed. This cell viability phenotype was rescued by scavengers of ROS, indicating that oxidative stress is the main cause of cell death caused by mRNA mistranslation. This study provides strong support for the hypothesis that oxidative stress and ROS accumulation, rather than sudden proteome collapse or major proteome disruption, are the main cause of the cellular degeneration observed in human diseases associated mRNA mistranslation.