A single cycle of treatment with temozolomide, alone or combined with O(6)-benzylguanine, induces strong chemoresistance in melanoma cell clones in vitro: role of O(6)-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase and the mismatch repair system.

Clinically achievable concentrations of temozolomide (TMZ) produce cytotoxic effects only in mismatch repair (MMR)-proficient cells endowed with low O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) activity. Aim of the present study was to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying acquired resistance of melanoma cells to TMZ and the effect of O6-benzylguanine (BG), a specific MGMT inhibitor, on the development of a TMZ-resistant phenotype. Three MMR-proficient melanoma cell clones with low or no MGMT activity were treated daily for 5 days with 50 micromol/l TMZ, alone or in combination with 5 micromol/l BG.

Direct interaction between uracil-DNA glycosylase and a proliferating cell nuclear antigen homolog in the crenarchaeon Pyrobaculum aerophilum.

Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) acts as a sliding clamp on duplex DNA. Its homologs, present in Eukarya and Archaea, are part of protein complexes that are indispensable for DNA replication and DNA repair. In Eukarya, PCNA is known to interact with more than a dozen different proteins, including a human major nuclear uracil-DNA glycosylase (hUNG2) involved in immediate postreplicative repair.