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BCR/ABL kinase interacts with and phosphorylates the RAD51 paralog, RAD51B

Leukemia volume 23, pages 2308–2310 (2009)Cite this article

BCR/ABL kinase-positive CD34+ stem/progenitor cells from chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) display elevated levels of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) induced by reactive oxygen species (ROS) and various genotoxic agents, including γ-radiation.1 To survive, CML cells repair these numerous DSBs, which generate chromosomal aberrations because BCR/ABL kinase affects the fidelity of repair mechanisms.1 Thus, CML cells can accumulate additional chromosomal aberrations during the course of disease (ROS dependent) and also in cells surviving bone marrow transplantation (genotoxic agent dependent). The latter statement is supported by the reports that CD34+ CML stem and progenitor cells are resistant to genotoxic agents.2

Our earlier studies showed that BCR/ABL kinase interacts with RAD51 resulting in its phosphorylation on Y315, which stimulates repair of DNA lesions by the homologous recombination repair (HRR).3 HRR is responsible for the repair of about 43% of DSBs in BCR/ABL-transformed cells.4 RAD51 protein promotes homology search and strand invasion during HRR, which uses an undamaged copy of broken DNA as a template for the repair process.5

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by CA89052 and the Scholarship of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to T Skorski, and by the Leukemia Research Foundation New Investigator Grant and the Lauri Strauss Leukemia Foundation Research Grant to A Slupianek.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    A Slupianek & T Skorski

  2. Department of Biology, College of Science and Technology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    S K Jozwiakowski & E Gurdek

  3. Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    S K Jozwiakowski

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  1. A Slupianek
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  2. S K Jozwiakowski
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  4. T Skorski
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Correspondence to T Skorski.

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Slupianek, A., Jozwiakowski, S., Gurdek, E. et al. BCR/ABL kinase interacts with and phosphorylates the RAD51 paralog, RAD51B. Leukemia 23, 2308–2310 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/leu.2009.164

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