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High expression of PPP1CC promotes NHEJ-mediated DNA repair leading to radioresistance and poor prognosis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

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Abstract

Protein phosphatase 1 catalytic subunit gamma (PPP1CC) promotes DNA repair and tumor development and progression, however, its underlying mechanisms remain unclear. This study investigated the molecular mechanism of PPP1CC’s involvement in DNA repair and the potential clinical implications. High expression of PPP1CC was significantly correlated with radioresistance and poor prognosis in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients. The mechanistic study revealed that PPP1CC bound to Ku70/Ku80 heterodimers and activated DNA-PKcs by promoting DNA-PK holoenzyme formation, which enhanced nonhomologous end junction (NHEJ) -mediated DNA repair and led to radioresistance. Importantly, BRCA1-BRCA2-containing complex subunit 3 (BRCC3) interacted with PPP1CC to enhance its stability by removing the K48-linked polyubiquitin chain at Lys234 to prevent PPP1CC degradation. Therefore, BRCC3 helped the overexpressed PPP1CC to maintain its high protein level, thereby sustaining the elevation of DNA repair capacity and radioresistance. Our study identified the molecular mechanism by which PPP1CC promotes NHEJ-mediated DNA repair and radioresistance, suggesting that the BRCC3-PPP1CC-Ku70 axis is a potential therapeutic target to improve the efficacy of radiotherapy.

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Fig. 1: High PPP1CC expression is correlated with poor prognosis and tumor recurrence.
Fig. 2: PPP1CC enhances radioresistance by promoting nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ)-mediated double-strand break (DSB) repair.
Fig. 3: PPP1CC protein expression is stabilized by BRCC3-mediated deubiquitination.
Fig. 4: PPP1CC recruits Ku70 and enhances DNA-PKcs phosphorylation by promoting DNA-PK holoenzyme formation.
Fig. 5: PPP1CC overexpression reverses the radiosensitization of BRCC3 knockdown in vitro and in vivo.
Fig. 6: PPP1CC overexpression reverses the radiosensitizing effect of knockdown BRCC3 by enhancing NHEJ-mediated DNA repair.
Fig. 7: High expression of the BRCC3-PPP1CC-Ku70 pathway protein is linked to locoregional recurrence of NPC.
Fig. 8: Proposed working model of PPP1CC.

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Data availability

The data used in this study for protein expression are available in the Clinical Proteome Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC; https://hupo.org/Clinical-Proteome-Tumor-Analysis-Consortium-(CPTAC)). The microarray data used in this study are available in the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/) under accession codes GSE12452 and GSE61218. The data used in this study for gene expression profiling interactive analysis (GEPIA; http://gepia.cancer-pku.cn/index.html) are available in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA; https://tcga-data.nci.nih.gov/). The datasets supporting the conclusions of this article are included within the article and its supplementary information files. All original western blots are provided as supplementary material. Data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Prof. M. Zeng, Prof. and Prof. H. Mai (Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, China) for human NPC cells, plasmids and technical advice. Professor Liu Ranyi (Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, China) kindly contributed reporter constructs for HR, NHEJ, and the I-SceI expression plasmid pCMV-NLS-I-SceI. This work was sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81872464), Science and Technology Program of Guangdong Province, China (2021A0505110010), and National High-tech R&D Program of China (863 Program) (2006AA02Z4B4).

Funding

This work was sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81872464), Science and Technology Program of Guangdong Province, China (2021A0505110010 and 010192200059), and National High-tech R&D Program of China (863 Program) (2006AA02Z4B4).

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PF, YFX, and YW designed, carried out and analyzed most of the experiments. NL checked the Figures, controlled the experiment steps, and was involved in discussions of the data. YMC provided helped with pathological analysis. YJH, SHZ, and YL helped organize and analyze clinical information and follow-up data. XX, ZLH, and TCJ contributed to several experiments. WD touched up the manuscript. PF wrote the manuscript with input from all other authors. PH and YFX conceived the study, provided scientific directions, and established collaborations. All authors read and approved the final paper.

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Correspondence to Peng Huang or Yunfei Xia.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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The study was approved by the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center’s Institutional Ethical Review Board (GZR2018-100), and the informed consent was obtained from all patients. Animal experiments were approved by the Animal Research Ethics Committee of Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center and complied with the relevant ethical guidelines (L102012020120M). All research protocols adhered to the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Feng, P., Wang, Y., Liu, N. et al. High expression of PPP1CC promotes NHEJ-mediated DNA repair leading to radioresistance and poor prognosis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Cell Death Differ (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41418-024-01287-5

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