Brca2 deficiency drives gastrointestinal tumor formation and is selectively inhibited by mitomycin C

Cell Death Dis. 2020 Sep 26;11(9):812. doi: 10.1038/s41419-020-03013-8.

Abstract

BRCA2 is crucial for repairing DNA double-strand breaks with high fidelity, and loss of BRCA2 increases the risks of developing breast and ovarian cancers. Herein, we show that BRCA2 is inactively mutated in 10% of gastric and 7% of colorectal adenocarcinomas, and that this inactivation is significantly correlated with microsatellite instability. Villin-driven Brca2 depletion promotes mouse gastrointestinal tumor formation when genome instability is increased. Whole-genome screening data showed that these BRCA2 monoallelic and biallelic mutant tumors were selectively inhibited by mitomycin C. Mechanistically, mitomycin C provoked double-strand breaks in cancer cells that often recruit wild-type BRCA2 for repair; the failure to repair double-strand breaks caused cell-cycle arrest at the S phase and p53-mediated cell apoptosis of BRCA2 monoallelic and biallelic mutant tumor cells. Our study unveils the role of BRCA2 loss in the development of gastrointestinal tumors and provides a potential therapeutic strategy to eliminate BRCA2 monoallelic and biallelic mutant tumors through mitomycin C.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • BRCA2 Protein / deficiency*
  • Gastrointestinal Neoplasms / genetics*
  • Humans
  • Mice
  • Mitomycin / metabolism*

Substances

  • BRCA2 Protein
  • BRCA2 protein, mouse
  • Mitomycin