Pre-mRNA processing factors meet the DNA damage response

DNA repair meets the RNA world

The ability to repair damaged DNA and to maintain genome stability is the utmost importance for the survival of any species. Hence, it is not surprising to find that DNA repair mechanisms are evolutionarily conserved and are expected to evolve to maintain the existence of species. In the last few years, there has been an exponential increase in the evidence linking RNA processing with DNA repair programs. For instance, the well-studied DNA base excision repair (BER) enzyme apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 can cleave RNA molecules, regulate mRNA levels, and associate physically with proteins involved in RNA processing. It is now clear that not only the expression of noncoding RNAs are changed upon DNA damage, they can modulate the expression of genes involved in the genome stability programs. The five reviews in this Forum provide the up-to-date knowledge on DNA repair, with a focus on BER, and a perspective on how the two ancient biochemical pathways are linked. The contributions demonstrate the complexity of such interactions, but also pointed out the opportunities for new therapeutic interventions. Future in vivo studies on the link between DNA repair processes and RNA metabolism should contribute to our basic understanding of physiology, disease, and treatment strategies.

Role of pseudoexons and pseudointrons in human cancer

In all eukaryotic organisms, pre-mRNA splicing and alternative splicing processes play an essential role in regulating the flow of information required to drive complex developmental and metabolic pathways. As a result, eukaryotic cells have developed a very efficient macromolecular machinery, called the spliceosome, to correctly recognize the pre-mRNA sequences that need to be inserted in a mature mRNA (exons) from those that should be removed (introns). In healthy individuals, alternative and constitutive splicing processes function with a high degree of precision and fidelity in order to ensure the correct working of this machinery. In recent years, however, medical research has shown that alterations at the splicing level play an increasingly important role in many human hereditary diseases, neurodegenerative processes, and especially in cancer origin and progression. In this minireview, we will focus on several genes whose association with cancer has been well established in previous studies, such as ATM, BRCA1/A2, and NF1. In particular, our objective will be to provide an overview of the known mechanisms underlying activation/repression of pseudoexons and pseudointrons; the possible utilization of these events as biomarkers of tumor staging/grading; and finally, the treatment options for reversing pathologic splicing events.

RNA splicing: a new player in the DNA damage response

It is widely accepted that tumorigenesis is a multistep process characterized by the sequential accumulation of genetic alterations. However, the molecular basis of genomic instability in cancer is still partially understood. The observation that hereditary cancers are often characterized by mutations in DNA repair and checkpoint genes suggests that accumulation of DNA damage is a major contributor to the oncogenic transformation. It is therefore of great interest to identify all the cellular pathways that contribute to the response to DNA damage. Recently, RNA processing has emerged as a novel pathway that may contribute to the maintenance of genome stability. In this review, we illustrate several different mechanisms through which pre-mRNA splicing and genomic stability can influence each other. We specifically focus on the role of splicing factors in the DNA damage response and describe how, in turn, activation of the DDR can influence the activity of splicing factors.