XRCC2 repairs mitochondrial DNA damage and fuels malignant behavior in hepatocellular carcinoma

The effects of DNA damage repair (DDR) and mitochondrial dysfunction associated with HCC have been investigated, but the functional role of mitochondrial DDR in HCC remains elusive. We studied the DDR genes and identified XRCC2 as a potential prognostic marker for HCC. XRCC2 overexpression was detected in HCC cells and shown to promote the malignant behavior of cancer cells. XRCC2 depletion in HCC cells led to DNA damage accumulation at the replication site in the nucleus. Additionally, XRCC2-depleted HCC cells exhibited impaired mitochondrial respiration and reduced complex I (CI) activity as XRCC2 was responsible for elimination of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) damage and maintenance of mtDNA-encoded CI-related genes' transcription in a RAD51-dependent manner. We showed that tunicamycin (Tm)-activated sXBP1 bound to the TGTCAT domain and suppressed XRCC2 expression. In HCC patients, we observed a negative correlation between XBP1 and XRCC2 expression. Moreover, XRCC2 inhibition by Tm led to genomic and mtDNA damage, which impaired the transcription of mtDNA-encoded CI-related genes and prevented tumor proliferation in vivo. We described the role of XRCC2 in mtDNA damage repair and HCC progression while unveiling the potential anti-tumor effect of Tm.