DNA Replication In Cancer Cells Research Articles

Prognostic and Clinical Significance of the Proliferation Marker MCM7 in Breast Cancer.

Minichromosome maintenance complex component 7 (MCM7) plays an essential role in proliferation and DNA replication of cancer cells. However, the expression and prognostic significance of MCM7 in breast cancer (BC) remain to be defined. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the role of MCM7 in BC. We conducted immunohistochemistry staining of MCM7 in 1,156 operable early-stage BC samples and assessed MCM7 at the transcriptomic levels using publicly available cohorts (n = 13,430). MCM7 expression was evaluated and correlated with clinicopathological parameters including Ki67 labelling index and patient outcome. At the transcriptomic level, there was a significant association between high MCM7 mRNA levels and shorter patient survival in the whole cohort and in luminal BC class but not in the basal-like molecular subtype. High MCM7 protein expression was detected in 43% of patients and was significantly associated with parameters characteristic of aggressive tumour behaviour. MCM7 was independently associated with shorter survival, particularly in oestrogen receptor-positive (luminal) BC. MCM7 stratified luminal tumours with aggressive clinicopathological features into distinct prognostic groups. In endocrine therapy-treated BC patients, high MCM7 was associated with poor outcome, but such association disappeared with administration of adjuvant chemotherapy. Patients with high expression of Ki67 and MCM7 showed worst survival, while patients with double low expression BC showed the best outcome compared with single expression groups. The current findings indicate that MCM7 expression has a prognostic value in BC and can be used to identify luminal BC patients who can benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy.

Identification of 3-Aryl-1-benzotriazole-1-yl-acrylonitrile as a Microtubule-Targeting Agent (MTA) in Solid Tumors.

Recently, a compound derived from recent scientific advances named 34 has emerged as the focus of this research, the aim of which is to explore its potential impact on solid tumor cell lines. Using a combination of bioinformatics and biological assays, this study conducted an in-depth investigation of the effects of 34. The results of this study have substantial implications for cancer research and treatment. 34 has shown remarkable efficacy in inhibiting the growth of several cancer cell lines, including those representing prostate carcinoma (PC3) and cervical carcinoma (HeLa). The high sensitivity of these cells, indicated by low IC50 values, underscores its potential as a promising chemotherapeutic agent. In addition, 34 has revealed the ability to induce cell cycle arrest, particularly in the G2/M phase, a phenomenon with critical implications for tumor initiation and growth. By interfering with DNA replication in cancer cells, 34 has shown the capacity to trigger cell death, offering a new avenue for cancer treatment. In addition, computational analyses have identified key genes affected by 34 treatment, suggesting potential therapeutic targets. These genes are involved in critical biological processes, including cell cycle regulation, DNA replication and microtubule dynamics, all of which are central to cancer development and progression. In conclusion, this study highlights the different mechanisms of 34 that inhibit cancer cell growth and alter the cell cycle. These promising results suggest the potential for more effective and less toxic anticancer therapies. Further in vivo validation and exploration of combination therapies are critical to improve cancer treatment outcomes.

Abstract NG04: Targeting DHX9 to trigger viral mimicry and immunotherapy responsiveness in small cell lung cancer

Abstract NG04: Targeting DHX9 to trigger viral mimicry and immunotherapy responsiveness in small cell lung cancer

Co(II), Mn(II), and Fe(III) complexes of water‐soluble hydrazone bearing 2‐nicotinoylhydrazineylidene moiety: Preparation, characterization, cyclic voltammetry, computational and biological studies

A water‐soluble hydrazone ligand bearing 2‐nicotinoylhydrazineylidene moiety, sodium 4‐hydroxy‐3‐([2‐nicotinoylhydrazineylidene]methyl) benzenesulfonate (NaH2NH), and its complexes with Co(II), Fe(III), and Mn(II) have been synthesized and characterized. The structure of the ligand and its complexes were analyzed using various spectroscopic techniques such as FT‐IR, 1H‐ and 13C‐NMR, EI‐mass, powder X‐ray diffraction, UV–visible spectra, and magnetic measurements. The infrared spectra indicated that the ligand behaves as a negatively charged bidentate ligand (ON) through the deprotonation of the enolic (OH) group and the azomethine (C=N) group in the [Co (NaHNH)2(H2O)4Cl2].3H2O complex. In the [Fe (NaNH)2(H2O)Cl].2H2O complex, the ligand behaves as bi‐negative tetradentate (O2N2) through the protonation of the enolic oxygen and the nitrogen atom of the azomethine group in two nicotinic hydrazone molecules. Another coordination type was observed for [Mn (NaNH)(H2O)3] complex in which NaH2NH acts as bi‐negative tridentate ONO through the nitrogen atom of the azomethine group, the protonated of enolic and phenolic groups. The fluorescence spectrum of the NaH2NH was found to be quenched upon addition of these Co(II) and Mn(II) ions. The antimicrobial results indicated that the Mn(II) complex exhibited the highest antibacterial potency against all targeted organisms. The results of antioxidants demonstrated that the complexes exhibited higher activity compared to the free ligand, indicating an enhancement of antioxidant activity through complexation. The tested substances established strong nuclease‐like activity at a high concentration of 7.5 mM, leading to the complete degradation of DNA as observed in agarose gel electrophoresis. This suggests that these compounds have the potential to serve as antitumor agents in vivo by inhibiting DNA replication in cancer cells and preventing tumor growth. The interaction of the isolated compounds with 1c14 and 6vj3 targets was discussed using molecular docking.

Targeting Cell Cycle Facilitates E1A-Independent Adenoviral Replication.

DNA replication of E1-deleted first-generation adenoviruses (AdV) in cultured cancer cells has been reported repeatedly and it was suggested that certain cellular proteins could functionally compensate for E1A, leading to the expression of the early region 2 (E2)-encoded proteins and subsequently virus replication. Referring to this, the observation was named E1A-like activity. In this study, we investigated different cell cycle inhibitors with respect to their ability to increase viral DNA replication of dl70-3, an E1-deleted adenovirus. Our analyses of this issue revealed that in particular inhibition of cyclin-dependent kinases 4/6 (CDK4/6i) increased E1-independent adenovirus E2-expression and viral DNA replication. Detailed analysis of the E2-expression in dl70-3 infected cells by RT-qPCR showed that the increase in E2-expression originated from the E2-early promoter. Mutations of the two E2F-binding sites in the E2-early promoter (pE2early-LucM) caused a significant reduction in E2-early promoter activity in trans-activation assays. Accordingly, mutations of the E2F-binding sites in the E2-early promoter in a virus named dl70-3/E2Fm completely abolished CDK4/6i induced viral DNA replication. Thus, our data show that E2F-binding sites in the E2-early promoter are crucial for E1A independent adenoviral DNA replication of E1-deleted vectors in cancer cells. IMPORTANCE E1-deleted AdV vectors are considered replication deficient and are important tools for the study of virus biology, gene therapy, and large-scale vaccine development. However, deletion of the E1 genes does not completely abolish viral DNA replication in cancer cells. Here, we report, that the two E2F-binding sites in the adenoviral E2-early promoter contribute substantially to the so-called E1A-like activity in tumor cells. With this finding, on the one hand, the safety profile of viral vaccine vectors can be increased and, on the other hand, the oncolytic property for cancer therapy might be improved through targeted manipulation of the host cell.

ORC6, a novel prognostic biomarker, correlates with T regulatory cell infiltration in prostate adenocarcinoma: a pan-cancer analysis

BackgroundThe origin recognition complex (ORC), a six-subunit DNA-binding complex, participates in DNA replication in cancer cells. Specifically in prostate cancers, ORC participates the androgen receptor (AR) regulated genomic amplification and tumor proliferation throughout the entire cell cycle. Of note, ORC6, the smallest subunit of ORC, has been reported to be dysregulated in some types of cancers (including prostate cancer), however, its prognostic and immunological significances remain yet to be elucidated.MethodsIn the current study, we comprehensively investigated the potential prognostic and immunological role of ORC6 in 33 human tumors using multiple databases, such as TCGA, Genotype-Tissue Expression, CCLE, UCSC Xena, cBioPortal, Human Protein Atlas, GeneCards, STRING, MSigDB, TISIDB, and TIMER2 databases.ResultsORC6 expression was significantly upregulated in 29 types of cancers compared to the corresponding normal adjacent tissues. ORC6 overexpression correlated with higher stage and worse prognostic outcomes in most cancer types analyzed. Additionally, ORC6 was involved in the cell cycle pathway, DNA replication, and mismatch repair pathways in most tumor types. A negative correlation was observed between the tumor endothelial cell infiltration and ORC6 expression in almost all tumors, whereas the immune infiltration of T regulatory cell was noted to be statistically positively correlated with the expression of ORC6 in prostate cancer tissues. Furthermore, in most tumor types, immunosuppression-related genes, especially TGFBR1 and PD-L1 (CD274), exhibited a specific correlation with the expression of ORC6.ConclusionsThis comprehensive pan-cancer analysis revealed that ORC6 expression serves as a prognostic biomarker and that ORC6 is involved in the regulation of various biological pathways, the tumor microenvironment, and the immunosuppression status in several human cancers, suggesting its potential diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic value in pan-cancer, especially in prostate adenocarcinoma.

The Functions of PCNA in Tumor Stemness and Invasion.

Invasion is the most prominent lethal feature of malignant cancer. However, how cell proliferation, another important feature of tumor development, is integrated with tumor invasion and the subsequent cell dissemination from primary tumors is not well understood. Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) is essential for DNA replication in cancer cells. Loss of phosphorylation at tyrosine 211 (Y211) in PCNA (pY211-PCNA) mitigates PCNA function in proliferation, triggers replication fork arrest/collapse, which in turn sets off an anti-tumor inflammatory response, and suppresses distant metastasis. Here, we show that pY211-PCNA is important in stromal activation in tumor tissues. Loss of the phosphorylation resulted in reduced expression of mesenchymal proteins as well as tumor progenitor markers, and of the ability of invasion. Spontaneous mammary tumors that developed in mice lacking Y211 phosphorylation contained fewer tumor-initiating cells compared to tumors in wild-type mice. Our study demonstrates a novel function of PCNA as an essential factor for maintaining cancer stemness through Y211 phosphorylation.

A Three-mRNA Signature Associated with Pyrimidine Metabolism for Prognosis of BRCA.

Objective Breast invasive carcinoma (BRCA), as a systemic disease, is currently the most malignant tumor among women. Early detection of BRCA will increase the probability of cure. Pyrimidine metabolism (PyM) stands for an essential metabolic pathway related to DNA replication of cancer cells, which may also serve as a diagnostic marker and therapeutic target. Therefore, the aim of this research is to discover a prognostic signature associated with PyM for BRCA. Methods The BRCA mRNA sequencing data along with microarray data were obtained based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. In addition, 4 PyM-related gene sets were profiled through gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA); it revealed the core genes differentially expressed in cancer and paracancerous tissue. Thereafter, genes were subjected to univariate as well as multivariate regression for constructing an mRNA signature to independently predict BRCA prognosis. Then, the Kaplan-Meier (KM) curve was applied for validation. The prognostic power of the signature was verified against the METABRIC (Molecular Taxonomy of Breast Cancer International Consortium) database. Results We constructed a three-mRNA (RRM2B, NME3, and POLD2) gene signature related to PyM to predict overall survival (OS) for BRCA. The as-constructed gene signature was adopted to classify cases as high- or low-risk group, identifying patients with BRCA with poor prognosis. Additionally, the risk score obtained using our constructed 3-mRNA prognosis signature is independent from other clinical variables. Conclusion Our findings suggested that PyM-related mRNA signature might be a combined prognostic biomarker for BRCA and can provide important reference that are useful for individualized treatment for BRCA patients.

Advances in heterocycles as DNA intercalating cancer drugs

Abstract The insertion of a molecule between the bases of DNA is known as intercalation. A molecule is able to interact with DNA in different ways. DNA intercalators are generally aromatic, planar, and polycyclic. In chemotherapeutic treatment, to suppress DNA replication in cancer cells, intercalators are used. In this article, we discuss the anticancer activity of 10 intensively studied DNA intercalators as drugs. The list includes proflavine, ethidium bromide, doxorubicin, dactinomycin, bleomycin, epirubicin, mitoxantrone, ellipticine, elinafide, and echinomycin. Considerable structural diversities are seen in these molecules. Besides, some examples of the metallo-intercalators are presented at the end of the chapter. These molecules have other crucial properties that are also useful in the treatment of cancers. The successes and limitations of these molecules are also presented.

A Minimalistic Coumarin Turn-On Probe for Selective Recognition of Parallel G-Quadruplex DNA Structures.

G-quadruplex (G4) DNA structures are widespread in the human genome and are implicated in biologically important processes such as telomere maintenance, gene regulation, and DNA replication. Guanine-rich sequences with potential to form G4 structures are prevalent in the promoter regions of oncogenes, and G4 sites are now considered as attractive targets for anticancer therapies. However, there are very few reports of small “druglike” optical G4 reporters that are easily accessible through one-step synthesis and that are capable of discriminating between different G4 topologies. Here, we present a small water-soluble light-up fluorescent probe that features a minimalistic amidinocoumarin-based molecular scaffold that selectively targets parallel G4 structures over antiparallel and non-G4 structures. We showed that this biocompatible ligand is able to selectively stabilize the G4 template resulting in slower DNA synthesis. By tracking individual DNA molecules, we demonstrated that the G4-stabilizing ligand perturbs DNA replication in cancer cells, resulting in decreased cell viability. Moreover, the fast-cellular entry of the probe enabled detection of nucleolar G4 structures in living cells. Finally, insights gained from the structure–activity relationships of the probe suggest the basis for the recognition of parallel G4s, opening up new avenues for the design of new biocompatible G4-specific small molecules for G4-driven theranostic applications.

Kinetics of DNA Adducts and Abasic Site Formation in Tissues of Mice Treated with a Nitrogen Mustard.

Nitrogen mustards (NM) are an important class of chemotherapeutic drugs used in the treatment of malignant tumors. The accepted mechanism of action of NM is through the alkylation of DNA bases. NM-adducts block DNA replication in cancer cells by forming cytotoxic DNA interstrand cross-links. We previously characterized several adducts formed by reaction of bis(2-chloroethyl)ethylamine (NM) with calf thymus (CT) DNA and the MDA-MB-231 mammary tumor cell line. The monoalkylated N7-guanine (NM-G) adduct and its cross-link (G-NM-G) were major lesions. The cationic NM-G undergoes a secondary reaction through depurination to form an apurinic (AP) site or reacts with hydroxide to yield the stable ring-opened N5-substituted formamidopyrimidine (NM-Fapy-G) adduct. Both of these lesions are mutagenic and may contribute to secondary tumor development, a major clinical limitation of NM chemotherapy. We established a kinetic model with NM-treated female mice and measured the rates of formation and removal of NM-DNA adducts and AP sites. We employed liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) to measure NM-G, G-NM-G, and NM-Fapy-G adducts in liver, lung, and spleen over 168 h. NM-G reached a maximum level within 6 h in all organs and then rapidly declined. The G-NM-G cross-link and NM-FapyG were more persistent with half-lives over three-times longer than NM-G. We quantified AP site lesions in the liver and showed that NM treatment increased AP site levels by 3.7-fold over the basal levels at 6 h. The kinetics of AP site repair closely followed the rate of removal of NM-G; however, AP sites remained 1.3-fold above basal levels 168 h post-treatment with NM. Our data provide new insights into NM-induced DNA damage and biological processing in vivo. The quantitative measurement of the spectrum of NM adducts and AP sites can serve as biomarkers in the design and assessment of the efficacy of novel chemotherapeutic regimens.

Novel aspects of the preclinical pharmacology of platinum compounds

Platinum compounds are widely used antitumor agents known to interfere with DNA function by forming DNA crosslinks and DNA-protein crosslinks. Because of their electrophilicity, platinum compounds can interact with nucleophilic residues of all macromolecules. Consequently, this cross-linking inhibits DNA replication in cancer cells. Immunogenic and immunomodulating effects have been ascribed to platinum drugs, with differences and similarities among cisplatin, carboplatin and oxaliplatin. On the one hand, cisplatin is generally unable to induce immunogenic cell death; on the other hand, oxaliplatin appears to be a good inducer, thanks to its capability to efficiently trigger calreticulin exposure to the tumor cell plasma membrane. Conversely, cisplatin, carboplatin and oxaliplatin can relieve immunosuppressive networks e.g., by decreasing PDL-1 and PDL-2 in dendritic and tumor cells. Such drugs are also capable of modulating MHC molecules via IFN-β production and T-cell mediated lysis. The concentrations appear to be key in determining the immunomodulatory properties of these cytotoxic agents, with low in vivo doses usually playing stimulatory effects. As predicted from preclinical models, supportive results have emerged from clinical studies, particularly those based on chemotherapeutic regimens of platinum compounds combined with immunotherapeutics. Future therapeutic interventions are expected to benefit from a better definition of the molecular effects of platinum compounds on the immune system.

A Total-variation Constrained Permutation Model for Revealing Common Copy Number Patterns

Variations in DNA copy number carry important information on genome evolution and regulation of DNA replication in cancer cells. The rapid development of single-cell sequencing technology enables exploration of gene-expression heterogeneity among single cells, providing important information on cell evolution. Evolutionary relationships in accumulated sequence data can be visualized by adjacent positioning of similar cells so that similar copy-number profiles are shown by block patterns. However, single-cell DNA sequencing data usually have low amount of starting genome, which requires an extra step of amplification to accumulate sufficient samples, introducing noise and making regular pattern-finding challenging. In this paper, we will propose to tackle this issue of recovering the hidden blocks within single-cell DNA-sequencing data through continuous sample permutations such that similar samples are positioned adjacently. The permutation is guided by the total variational norm of the recovered copy number profiles, and is continued until the total variational norm is minimized when similar samples are stacked together to reveal block patterns. An efficient numerical scheme for finding this permutation is designed, tailored from the alternating direction method of multipliers. Application of this method to both simulated and real data demonstrates its ability to recover the hidden structures of single-cell DNA sequences.

Copy number variants calling for single cell sequencing data by multi-constrained optimization

Variations in DNA copy number carry important information on genome evolution and regulation of DNA replication in cancer cells. The rapid development of single-cell sequencing technology allows one to explore gene expression heterogeneity among single-cells, thus providing important cancer cell evolution information. Single-cell DNA/RNA sequencing data usually have low genome coverage, which requires an extra step of amplification to accumulate enough samples. However, such amplification will introduce large bias and makes bioinformatics analysis challenging. Accurately modeling the distribution of sequencing data and effectively suppressing the bias influence is the key to success variations analysis.Recent advances demonstrate the technical noises by amplification are more likely to follow negative binomial distribution, a special case of Poisson distribution. Thus, we tackle the problem CNV detection by formulating it into a quadratic optimization problem involving two constraints, in which the underling signals are corrupted by Poisson distributed noises. By imposing the constraints of sparsity and smoothness, the reconstructed read depth signals from single-cell sequencing data are anticipated to fit the CNVs patterns more accurately. An efficient numerical solution based on the classical alternating direction minimization method (ADMM) is tailored to solve the proposed model. We demonstrate the advantages of the proposed method using both synthetic and empirical single-cell sequencing data. Our experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves excellent performance and high promise of success with single-cell sequencing data.

Exploiting replicative stress to treat cancer.

DNA replication in cancer cells is accompanied by stalling and collapse of the replication fork and signalling in response to DNA damage and/or premature mitosis; these processes are collectively known as 'replicative stress'. Progress is being made to increase our understanding of the mechanisms that govern replicative stress, thus providing ample opportunities to enhance replicative stress for therapeutic purposes. Rather than trying to halt cell cycle progression, cancer therapeutics could aim to increase replicative stress by further loosening the checkpoints that remain available to cancer cells and ultimately inducing the catastrophic failure of proliferative machineries. In this Review, we outline current and future approaches to achieve this, emphasizing the combination of conventional chemotherapy with targeted approaches.

Cancer therapy and replication stress: forks on the road to perdition.

Deregulated DNA replication occurs in cancer where it contributes to genomic instability. This process is a target of cytotoxic therapies. Chemotherapies exploit high DNA replication in cancer cells by modifying the DNA template or by inhibiting vital enzymatic activities that lead to slowing or stalling replication fork progression. Stalled replication forks can be converted into toxic DNA double-strand breaks resulting in cell death, i.e., replication stress. While likely crucial for many cancer treatments, replication stress is poorly understood due to its complexity. While we still know relatively little about the role of replication stress in cancer therapy, technical advances in recent years have shed new light on the effect that cancer therapeutics have on replication forks and the molecular mechanisms that lead from obstructed fork progression to cell death. This chapter will give an overview of our current understanding of replication stress in the context of cancer therapy.

Novel SNP improves differential survivability and mortality in non-small cell lung cancer patients.

BackgroundNon-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a major cause of cancer-related death worldwide due to poor patient prognosis and clinical outcome. Here, we studied the genetic variations underlying NSCLC pathogenesis based on their association to patient outcome after gemcitabine therapy.ResultsBioinformatics analysis was used to investigate possible effects of POLA2 G583R (POLA2+1747 GG/GA, dbSNP ID: rs487989) in terms of protein function. Using biostatistics, POLA2+1747 GG/GA (rs487989, POLA2 G583R) was identified as strongly associated with mortality rate and survival time among NSCLC patients. It was also shown that POLA2+1747 GG/GA is functionally significant for protein localization via green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagging and confocal laser scanning microscopy analysis. The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) causes DNA polymerase alpha subunit B to localize in the cytoplasm instead of the nucleus. This inhibits DNA replication in cancer cells and confers a protective effect in individuals with this SNP.ConclusionsThe results suggest that POLA2+1747 GG/GA may be used as a prognostic biomarker of patient outcome in NSCLC pathogenesis.

Comparative Molecular Similarity Indices Analysis Studies on Chromone Derivatives as Topoisomerase I Inhibitors

DNA Topoisomerase I is an enzyme, which is involved in DNA replication, transcription and chromosome segregation in cellular processes. Inhibitors of Topoisomerase I are designed to interrupt DNA replication in cancer cells, resulting in cell death. The goal of these studies was to identify structural features necessary for increasing inhibitory effect of Topoisomerase I and further use these features for designing novel anticancer agents. 3D-QSAR method was performed for 15 chromone derivatives using Comparative Molecular Similarity Indices Analysis (CoMSIA) method. The best CoMSIA model was obtained from AM1 geometry optimization and align database alignment. The satisfactory CoMSIA model based on steric, electrostatic, hydrophobic and hydrogen bond acceptor fields gave a leave-one-out cross-validation q2 = 0.753 and a non-cross-validation r2 = 0.987. Therefore, the resulting contour maps produced by the best CoMSIA models could be used to understand the important structural features responsible for the design and development of new highly active topoisomerase I inhibitors.

Reconstructing DNA copy number by joint segmentation of multiple sequences

BackgroundVariations in DNA copy number carry information on the modalities of genome evolution and mis-regulation of DNA replication in cancer cells. Their study can help localize tumor suppressor genes, distinguish different populations of cancerous cells, and identify genomic variations responsible for disease phenotypes. A number of different high throughput technologies can be used to identify copy number variable sites, and the literature documents multiple effective algorithms. We focus here on the specific problem of detecting regions where variation in copy number is relatively common in the sample at hand. This problem encompasses the cases of copy number polymorphisms, related samples, technical replicates, and cancerous sub-populations from the same individual.ResultsWe present a segmentation method named generalized fused lasso (GFL) to reconstruct copy number variant regions. GFL is based on penalized estimation and is capable of processing multiple signals jointly. Our approach is computationally very attractive and leads to sensitivity and specificity levels comparable to those of state-of-the-art specialized methodologies. We illustrate its applicability with simulated and real data sets.ConclusionsThe flexibility of our framework makes it applicable to data obtained with a wide range of technology. Its versatility and speed make GFL particularly useful in the initial screening stages of large data sets.

Mechanism of Cancer Cell Death Induced by Depletion of an Essential Replication Regulator

BackgroundDepletion of replication factors often causes cell death in cancer cells. Depletion of Cdc7, a kinase essential for initiation of DNA replication, induces cancer cell death regardless of its p53 status, but the precise pathways of cell death induction have not been characterized.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe have used the recently-developed cell cycle indicator, Fucci, to precisely characterize the cell death process induced by Cdc7 depletion. We have also generated and utilized similar fluorescent cell cycle indicators using fusion with other cell cycle regulators to analyze modes of cell death in live cells in both p53-positive and -negative backgrounds. We show that distinct cell-cycle responses are induced in p53-positive and -negative cells by Cdc7 depletion. p53-negative cells predominantly arrest temporally in G2-phase, accumulating CyclinB1 and other mitotic regulators. Prolonged arrest at G2-phase and abrupt entry into aberrant M-phase in the presence of accumulated CyclinB1 are followed by cell death at the post-mitotic state. Abrogation of cytoplasmic CyclinB1 accumulation partially decreases cell death. The ATR-MK2 pathway is responsible for sequestration of CyclinB1 with 14-3-3σ protein. In contrast, p53-positive cancer cells do not accumulate CyclinB1, but appear to die mostly through entry into aberrant S-phase after Cdc7 depletion. The combination of Cdc7 inhibition with known anti-cancer agents significantly stimulates cell death effects in cancer cells in a genotype-dependent manner, providing a strategic basis for future combination therapies.ConclusionsOur results show that the use of Fucci, and similar fluorescent cell cycle indicators, offers a convenient assay system with which to identify cell cycle events associated with cancer cell death. They also indicate genotype-specific cell death modes induced by deficient initiation of DNA replication in cancer cells and its potential exploitation for development of efficient cancer therapies.