Critical Step in DNA Repair, Cellular Aging Pinpointed

A solid bond: New research led by Harvard Medical School reveals that interaction between the protein DBC1 and the signaling molecule NAD+ may help ward off DNA damage. Photo credit: David Bolinsky, e.mersion studios, 2017 

DNA repair is essential for cell vitality, survival and cancer prevention, yet cells’ ability to patch up damaged DNA declines with age for reasons not fully understood. Now, research led by scientists at Harvard Medical School reveals a critical step in a molecular chain of events that allows cells to mend their broken DNA. The findings offer a critical insight into how and why the body’s ability to fix DNA dwindles over time and point to a previously unknown role for the signaling molecule NAD as a key regulator of protein-to-protein interactions in DNA repair. NAD, identified a century ago, is already known for its role as a controller of cell-damaging oxidation.

Additionally, experiments conducted in mice show that treatment with the NAD precursor NMN mitigates age-related DNA damage and wards off DNA damage from radiation exposure. The scientists caution that the effects of many therapeutic substances are often profoundly different in mice and humans owing to critical differences in biology. However, if affirmed in further animal studies and in humans, the findings can help pave the way to therapies that prevent DNA damage associated with aging and with cancer treatments that involve radiation exposure and some types of chemotherapy, which along with killing tumors can cause considerable DNA damage in healthy cells. Human trials with NMN are expected to begin within six months. A previous study led by Sinclair showed that NMN reversed muscle aging in mice.

The researchers already knew that NAD, which declines steadily with age, boosts the activity of the SIRT1 protein, which delays aging and extends life in yeast, flies and mice. Both SIRT1 and PARP1, a protein known to control DNA repair, consume NAD in their work. Another protein DBC1, one of the most abundant proteins in humans and found across life forms from bacteria to plants and animals, was a far murkier presence. As DBC1 was previously shown to inhibit vitality-boosting SIRT1, the researchers suspected DBC1 may also somehow interact with PARP1, given the similar roles PARP1 and SIRT1 play.

To get a better sense of the chemical relationship among the 3 proteins, the scientists measured the molecular markers of protein-to-protein interaction inside human kidney cells. DBC1 and PARP1 bound powerfully to each other. However, when NAD levels increased, that bond was disrupted. The more NAD present inside cells, the fewer molecular bonds PARP1 and DBC1 could form. When researchers inhibited NAD, the number of PARP1-DBC1 bonds went up. In other words, when NAD is plentiful, it prevents DBC1 from binding to PARP1 and meddling with its ability to mend damaged DNA.

What this suggests is that as NAD declines with age, fewer and fewer NAD molecules are around to stop the harmful interaction between DBC1 and PARP1. The result: DNA breaks go unrepaired and precipitate cell damage, cell mutations, cell death and loss of organ function. Next, to understand how exactly NAD prevents DBC1 from binding to PARP1, the team homed in on a region of DBC1 known as NHD, a pocket-like structure found in some 80,000 proteins across life forms and species whose function has eluded scientists. The team’s experiments showed that NHD is an NAD binding site and that in DBC1, NAD blocks this specific region to prevent DBC1 from locking in with PARP1 and interfering with DNA repair. Since NHD is so common across species, by binding to it, NAD may play a similar role averting harmful protein interactions across many species to control DNA repair and other cell survival processes.

The researchers also treated young and old mice with the NAD precursor NMN, which makes up half of an NAD molecule. NAD is too large to cross the cell membrane, but NMN can easily slip across it. Once inside the cell, NMN binds to another NMN molecule to form NAD. As expected, old mice had lower levels of NAD in their livers, lower levels of PARP1 and a greater number of PARP1 with DBC1 stuck to their backs.

However, after receiving NMN with their drinking water for a week, old mice showed marked differences both in NAD levels and PARP1 activity. NAD levels in the livers of old mice shot up to levels similar to those seen in younger mice. The cells of mice treated with NMN also showed increased PARP1 activity and fewer PARP1 and DBC1 molecules binding together. The animals also showed a decline in molecular markers that signal DNA damage. In a final step, scientists exposed mice to DNA-damaging radiation. Cells of animals pre-treated with NMN showed lower levels of DNA damage. Such mice also didn’t exhibit the typical radiation-induced aberrations in blood counts, eg. altered white cell counts and changes in lymphocyte and Hb levels. The protective effect was seen even in mice treated with NMN after radiation exposure.

Taken together, the results shed light on the mechanism behind cellular demise induced by DNA damage. They also suggest that restoring NAD levels by NMN treatment should be explored further as a possible therapy to avert the unwanted side effects of environmental radiation, as well as radiation exposure from cancer treatments. http://www.newswise.com/articles/harvard-medical-school-scientists-pinpoint-critical-step-in-dna-repair-cellular-aging