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BRCA2 Regulates Homologous Recombination in Response to DNA Damage: Implications for Genome Stability and Carcinogenesis

Departments of ¹ Biochemistry, ² Molecular Biology Program, and ³ Medicine and Microbiology, Centre de recherche, Centre hospitalier de l'université de Montréal-Hôpital Notre-Dame, Institut du Cancer de Montréal, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada

Requests for reprints: Abdellah Belmaaza, Centre de Recherche du Centre hospitalier de l'université de Montréal-Hôpital Notre-Dame, Institut du cancer de Montréal, 1560, rue Sherbrooke est, Pavillon J.A. de Sève, Y-5634, Montréal, Québec, Canada H2L 4M1. Phone: 514-890-8000, ext. 28946; Fax: 514-412-7591; E-mail: belmaaza{at}magellan.umontreal.ca.

BRCA2 has been implicated in the maintenance of genome stability and RAD51-mediated homologous recombination repair of chromosomal double-strand breaks (DSBs), but its role in these processes is unclear. To gain more insight into its role in homologous recombination, we expressed wild-type BRCA2 in the well-characterized BRCA2-deficient human cell line CAPAN-1 containing, as homologous recombination substrates, either direct or inverted repeats of two inactive marker genes. Whereas direct repeats monitor a mixture of RAD51-dependent and RAD51-independent homologous recombination events, inverted repeats distinguish between these events by reporting RAD51-dependent homologous recombination, gene conversion, and crossover events only. At either repeats, BRCA2 decreases the rate and frequency of spontaneous homologous recombination, but following chromosomal DSBs, BRCA2 increases the frequency of homologous recombination. At direct repeats, BRCA2 suppresses both spontaneous gene conversion and deletions, which can arise either from crossover or RAD51-independent sister chromatid replication slippage (SCRS), but following chromosomal DSBs, BRCA2 highly promotes gene conversion with little effect on deletions. At inverted repeats, spontaneous or DSB-induced crossover events were scarce and BRCA2 does not suppress their formation. From these results, we conclude that (i) BRCA2 regulates RAD51 recombination in response to the type of DNA damage and (ii) BRCA2 suppresses SCRS, suggesting a role for BRCA2 in sister chromatids cohesion and/or alignment. Loss of such control in response to estrogen-induced DNA damage after BRCA2 inactivation may be a key initial event triggering genome instability and carcinogenesis.

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