Citations 2
The chromatin regulator HELLS mediates SSB repair and responses to DNA alkylation damage
Joseph, Joyous T. , Wright, Christine, Shibata, Etsuko, Khan, Asad Ullah , Neidigk, Jason S Romero, Chen, Bo-Ruei , Tufail, Saba, Mujawar, Aaiyas , Decker, Olivia, Kadali, Krishna Reethika, Imtiaz, Azait, Jones, Brianna A, Zhang, Yanfeng , Gradilone, Sergio A. , Lewis, Zachary , Sen, Arko , Dutta, Anindya , Czaja, Wioletta , Dutta, Anindya , Czaja, Wioletta , Gradilone, Sergio A , Peixoto, Estanislao , Li, Yong , Neidigk, Jason Romero , Imtiaz, Azait, Jones, Brianna A, Lewis, Zachary , Contreras-Galindo, Rafael
Nucleic Acids Research | October 21, 2025 | Volume: 53 | Issue: 22 | Pages: No page available
Abstract The SNF2 family chromatin remodeler HELLS has emerged as an important regulator of cell proliferation, genome stability, and several cancer pathways. Significant upregulation of HELLS has been reported in 33 human cancer types. While HELLS has been implicated in DNA damage response, its function in DNA repair is poorly understood. Here, we report a new regulatory link between HELLS and single-strand break (SSB) repair in cellular responses to DNA alkylation damage. We found that loss of HELLS impairs SSB repair and selectively sensitizes cells to DNA alkylating agents and PARP inhibitors (PARPi). Our data reveal non-epistatic interactions between HELLS and PARP1 and suggest that HELLS functionally compensates for PARP1 deficiency in promoting cell survival in response to DNA alkylation damage. Furthermore, we found that HELLS is co-expressed with PARP1 in cancer cells, and its loss is synthetic lethal with homologous recombination deficiency (HRD). This work unveils new functions of HELLS in modulating SSB repair and responses to clinically relevant DNA alkylation damage, thus offering new insights into the potential therapeutic value of targeting HELLS in cancer.
Fine‐scale mapping of 8q24 locus identifies multiple independent risk variants for breast cancer
Shi, Jiajun , Zhang, Yanfeng , Zheng, Wei , Michailidou, Kyriaki , Ghoussaini, Maya , Bolla, Manjeet K. , Wang, Qin, Beesley, Jonathan, Kar, Siddhartha , Andrulis, Irene L. , Beckmann, Matthias W. , Zhao, Zhiguo , Benı́tez, Javier , Beeghly‐Fadiel, Alicia, Blot, William J. , Bogdanova, Natalia , Bojesen, Stig E. , Brauch, Hiltrud , Brenner, Hermann , Brinton, Louise A. , Brüning, Thomas , Burwinkel, Barbara , Cai, Hui , Canisius, Sander , Chang‐Claude, Jenny , Choi, Ji‐Yeob , Couch, Fergus J. , Darabi, Hatef, Devilee, Peter , Droit, Arnaud , Dörk, Thilo , Fasching, Peter A. , Fletcher, Olivia , Flyger, Henrik, Fostira, Florentia, Gaborieau, Valérie , García‐Closas, Montserrat , Giles, Graham G. , Grip, Mervi, Guénel, Pascal , Haiman, Christopher A., Hamann, Ute, Hartman, Mikael , Miao, Hui , Hopper, John L. , Hsiung, Chia‐Ni , Investigators, kConFab, Jakubowska, Anna , Johnson, Nichola , Torres, Diana , Kabisch, Maria, Kang, Daehee , Khan, Sofia , Knight, Julia A. , Kosma, Veli‐Matti, Lambrechts, Diether , Li, Jingmei , Lindblom, Annika , Lubiński, Jan , Mannermaa, Arto, Manoukian, Siranoush , Margolin, Sara , Matsuo, Keitaro , McLean, Catriona , Meindl, Alfons, Børresen‐Dale, Anne‐Lise , Orr, Nick , Ouweland, Ans M.W. van den, Peterlongo, Paolo , Putti, Thomas Choudary , Sangrajrang, Suleeporn , Sawyer, Elinor J. , Schmidt, Marjanka K. , Schmutzler, Rita K., Shen, Chen‐Yang , Hou, Ming‐Feng , Shrubsole, Matha J., Southey, Melissa C. , Swerdlow, Anthony J. , Teo, Soo‐Hwang , Thienpont, Bernard , Tollenaar, Robert A.E.M., Tomlinson, Ian , Truong, Thérèse , Tseng, Chiu-Chen , Wen, Wanqing , Winqvist, Robert , Wu, Anna H. , Yip, Cheng Har , Zheng, Ying , Floris, Giuseppe , Cheng, Ching‐Yu , Hooning, Maartje J. , Seynaeve, Caroline, Kristensen, Vessela N., Simard, Jacques , Chenevix‐Trench, Georgia , Dunning, Alison M. , Antoniou, Antonis C. , Easton, Douglas F. , Long, Jirong , Durocher, Francine , Thorne, Heather , Shrubsole, Martha J. , Lambrechts, Diether , Wang, Qin, Dennis, Joe , Lush, Michael J. , Milne, Roger L. , Shu, Xiao‐Ou , Anton‐Culver, Hoda , Arndt, Volker , Guo, Xingyi , Beeghly‐Fadiel, Alicia , Broeks, Annegien , Couch, Fergus J. , Cox, Angela , Cross, Simon S. , Czene, Kamila , Hollestelle, Antoinette , Investigators, kConFab, Ito, Hidemi , Lophatananon, Artitaya , Mannermaa, Arto , Marchand, Loı̈c Le , Marmé, Frederik , Meindl, Alfons, Muir, Kenneth , Neuhausen, Susan L. , Nevanlinna, Heli , Nord, Silje , Olson, Janet E. , Rudolph, Anja , Toland, Amanda Ewart , Zamora, Pilar M. , Hooning, Maartje J. , Martens, John W.M. , Kristensen, Vessela N. , Hall, Per N , Pharoah, Paul D.P. , Cai, Qiuyin , Dörk, Thilo , Lambrechts, Diether , Giles, Graham G , Peterlongo, Paolo , Teo, Soo H , Shrubsole, Martha J , Swerdlow, Anthony J , Southey, Melissa C , Matsuo, Keitaro , Dunning, Alison M , Jakubowska, Anna , Lambrechts, Diether , Brenner, Hermann , Guénel, Pascal , Hartman, Mikael , Li, Jingmei , Torres, Diana , García-Closas, Montserrat , Schmidt, Marjanka K , Michailidou, Kyriaki , Bogdanova, Natalia V , Benitez, Javier , Simard, Jacques , Chenevix-Trench, Georgia , Zheng, Wei , Kar, Siddhartha , Devilee, Peter , Manoukian, Siranoush , Lubinski, Jan , Fletcher, Olivia , Bojesen, Stig E , Truong, Therese , Mclean, Catriona , Brauch, Hiltrud , Lindblom, Annika , Sawyer, Elinor J , Orr, Nick , Kang, Daehee , Droit, Arnaud
International Journal of Cancer | April 18, 2016 | Volume: 139 | Issue: 6 | Pages: 1303-1317
Previous genome‐wide association studies among women of European ancestry identified two independent breast cancer susceptibility loci represented by single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs13281615 and rs11780156 at 8q24. A fine‐mapping study across 2.06 Mb (chr8:127,561,724–129,624,067, hg19) in 55,540 breast cancer cases and 51,168 controls within the Breast Cancer Association Consortium was conducted. Three additional independent association signals in women of European ancestry, represented by rs35961416 (OR = 0.95, 95% CI = 0.93–0.97, conditional p = 5.8 × 10−6), rs7815245 (OR = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.91–0.96, conditional p = 1.1 × 10−6) and rs2033101 (OR = 1.05, 95% CI = 1.02–1.07, conditional p = 1.1 × 10−4) were found. Integrative analysis using functional genomic data from the Roadmap Epigenomics, the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements project, the Cancer Genome Atlas and other public resources implied that SNPs rs7815245 in Signal 3, and rs1121948 in Signal 5 (in linkage disequilibrium with rs11780156, r2 = 0.77), were putatively functional variants for two of the five independent association signals. The results highlighted multiple 8q24 variants associated with breast cancer susceptibility in women of European ancestry.