Impaired induction of DNA lesions during immunoglobulin class-switch recombination in humans influences end-joining repair

S Kracker, K Imai, P Gardès, HD Ochs… - Proceedings of the …, 2010 - National Acad Sciences
S Kracker, K Imai, P Gardès, HD Ochs, A Fischer, AH Durandy
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2010National Acad Sciences
Ig class-switch recombination (CSR) is a region-specific process that exchanges the
constant Ig heavy-chain region and thus modifies an antibody's effector function. DNA
lesions in switch (S) regions are induced by activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID)
and uracil-DNA glycosylase 2 (UNG2), subsequently processed to DNA breaks, and
resolved by either the classical nonhomologous end-joining pathway or the alternative end-
joining pathway (XRCC4/DNA ligase 4–and/or Ku70/Ku80-independent and prone to …
Ig class-switch recombination (CSR) is a region-specific process that exchanges the constant Ig heavy-chain region and thus modifies an antibody's effector function. DNA lesions in switch (S) regions are induced by activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) and uracil-DNA glycosylase 2 (UNG2), subsequently processed to DNA breaks, and resolved by either the classical nonhomologous end-joining pathway or the alternative end-joining pathway (XRCC4/DNA ligase 4– and/or Ku70/Ku80-independent and prone to increased microhomology usage). We examined whether the induction of DNA lesions influences DNA end-joining during CSR by analyzing Sμ–Sα recombination junctions in various human Ig CSR defects of DNA lesion induction. We observed a progressive trend toward the usage of microhomology in Sμ–Sα recombination junctions from AID-heterozygous to AID–autosomal dominant to UNG2-deficient B lymphocytes. We thus hypothesize that impaired induction of DNA lesions in S regions during CSR leads to unusual end-processing of the DNA breaks, resulting in microhomology-mediated end-joining, which could be an indication for preferential processing by alternative end-joining rather than by classical nonhomologous end-joining.
National Acad Sciences