The immunofluorescence-based detection of c-H2AX is a reliable and sensitive method for quantitatively measuring DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in irradiated samples. Since H2AX phosphorylation is highly linear with radiation dose, this wellestablished biomarker is in current use in radiation biodosimetry. At the Center for High-Throughput Minimally Invasive Radiation Biodosimetry, we have dev...

H2AX phosphorylation is an early step in the response to DNA damage. It is widely accepted that ATM (ataxia telangiectasia mutated protein) phosphorylates H2AX in response to DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). Whether DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) plays any role in this response is unclear. Here, we show that H2AX phosphorylation after exposure to ionizing radiation (IR) occurs to similar...

The H2AX core histone variant is phosphorylated in chromatin around DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) and functions through unknown mechanisms to suppress antigen receptor locus translocations during V(D)J recombination. Formation of chromosomal coding joins and suppression of translocations involves the ataxia telangiectasia mutated and DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit serine/threo...

Response of cancer cells to chemotherapy-induced DNA damage is regulated by the ATM-Chk2 and ATR-Chk1 pathways. We investigated the association between phosphorylated H2AX (γ-H2AX), a marker of DNA double-strand breaks that trigger the ATM-Chk2 cascade, and phosphorylated Chk1 (pChk1), with pathological complete response (pCR) in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients treated with neoadj...

Anacardic acid (6-pentadecylsalicylic acid, AA), a natural compound isolated from the traditional medicine Amphipterygiumadstringens, has been reported as potential antitumor agents in various cancers including prostate cancer (PC). However, the effects and mechanism of AA on the radiosensitivity of prostate cancer remains unknown. The results indicated that AA exhibited strong antitumor activi...

Background: Tumor radioresistance leads to a reduction in the efficiency of radiation therapy. It is very important to explore the cellular mechanisms leading to radioresistance and to find potential therapeutic targets, which might improve the efficacy of radiation therapy. This study was to investigate the role of ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM) and murine double minute X (MDMX) in radior...

How phosphorylated histone H2AX, known as gamma-H2AX, functions in the cellular response to DNA double-strand breaks is the subject of intensive investigation. Recent research in yeast and mammalian cells shows that gamma-H2AX facilitates post-replicational DNA repair by recruiting cohesin, a protein complex that holds sister chromatids together.

To evaluate the potential role of DNA repair in bladder carcinogenesis, we performed an immunohistochemical analysis of expression of various DNA repair enzymes and γ-H2AX, a high-sensitivity marker of DNA double-strand breaks, in the urothelium of male F344 rats treated with N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl)-nitrosamine (BBN), a bladder-specific carcinogen. Our results clearly demonstrated that γ-H2A...

DNA damage, particularly when it involves formation of double-strand breaks (DSBs), triggers phosphorylation of histone H2AX on Ser-139. Phosphorylated H2AX has been named gammaH2AX, and induction of gammaH2AX in cells exposed to genotoxic agents is considered a sensitive and specific reporter of DNA damage. However, in untreated normal cells as well in the cells of various tumor lines cells, a...

The Columbia University RABiT (Rapid Automated Biodosimetry Tool) quantifies DNA damage using fingerstick volumes of blood. One RABiT protocol quantifies the total γ-H2AX fluorescence per nucleus, a measure of DNA double strand breaks (DSB) by an immunofluorescent assay at a single time point. Using the recently extended RABiT system, that assays the γ-H2AX repair kinetics at multiple time poin...