Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA) have long been thought to play essential roles in DNA damage and repair but their pathways are still relatively poorly understood because of their ability to integrate environmental and stress cues during development. In this paper, the authors discover a lncRNA, HITT, that plays a critical role in tumor cell repair. After a double stranded break, an apical kinase called ATM is involved in homologous repair. ATM was found to be inhibited by HITT, leading to the loss of homologous repair and eventual apoptosis of the cell. The authors hope that this new pathway connection between HITT, ATM, and cell repair will lead to a cancer treatment that will leave tumor cells susceptible to genotoxic treatment, allowing for a more targeted treatment.
-Alexis Williams
Zhao K, Wang X, Xue X, Li L, Hu Y (2020) A long noncoding RNA sensitizes genotoxic treatment
by attenuating ATM activation and homologous recombination repair in cancers. PLOS Biology 18(3): e3000666. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000666
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