Human Rad17 is phosphorylated upon DNA damage and also overexpressed in primary non-small cell lung cancer tissues

The spRAD17 gene is an essential component of the DNA damage and replication checkpoints in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Cloning of the human homologue of spRAD17, hRAD17, indicated that it exhibits structural similarity with the replication accessory protein family, which include subunits of the Replication factor C complex. We have analyzed the phosphorylation status of hRad17 in response to DNA damaging agents. Our results showed that phosphorylation of hRad17 occurred immediately after UV and ionizing radiation treatment and reached peak level at approximately 3 h, suggesting that hRad17 may be a component of the DNA damage checkpoint. When primary tumor samples were analyzed, we observed that the majority (74%) of non-small cell lung carcinoma samples exhibited a significantly higher level of hRad17 expression compared with matched normal tissue controls. In contrast, hRad17 protein levels in a panel of primary colon carcinoma samples did not show an elevated level of expression compared with normal colon tissues. This observation suggests that the function of the hRAD17 gene may be involved in lung cancer development and may serve as a potential tumor marker.