Defining the function of XPC protein in psoralen and cisplatin-mediated DNA repair and mutagenesis

DNA damage recognition plays an important role in DNA repair and mutagenesis. Failure to recognize DNA damage may lead to DNA replication without damage repair as well as mutation accumulation. Mutations can lead to many disease conditions. XPC is a DNA damage recognition protein that binds to damaged DNA templates at a very early stage during the DNA repair process. We have studied the role of the XPC protein in DNA cross-link reagents, psoralen and cisplatin, mediated DNA repair and mutagenesis. When psoralen and cisplatin-damaged plasmid DNA was transfected into xeroderma pigmentosum group C (XPC) cells, which were defective in the XPC gene, very distinct mutation frequency and spectrum was observed: a decreased mutation frequency for psoralen-damaged plasmid and an increased mutation frequency for cisplatin-damaged plasmid; in contrast, most mutations generated by psoralen in XPC cells were T-to-G transversions and most mutations generated by cisplatin in XPC cells were large deletions. We also determined the DNA repair ability of XPC cells by both host cell reactivation (HCR) assay and in vitro DNA repair assay. The HCR results showed greatly reduced host cell reactivation of a luciferase reporter for both psoralen and cisplatin-damaged plasmid DNA in XPC cells. The in vitro DNA repair results revealed a defective repair capacity for both psoralen and cisplatin-damaged plasmid DNA in nuclear extract prepared from XPC cells. However, this defective DNA repair activity was partially restored when a functional XPC protein was supplemented into the XPC nuclear extract prior to the reaction. These results suggest that the XPC protein DNA damage recognition function plays a crucial role in DNA repair initiation and mutation avoidance and XPC defects may lead to increased mutations and high risk for disease progression.