2018 Feb 22;9(3):314. doi: 10.1038/s41419-018-0357-8.

Author information

1
Department of Anatomical, Histological, Forensic and Orthopaedic Sciences, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy.
2
Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, Tor Vergata University, Rome, Italy.
3
Institute of Cell Biology and Neurobiology, CNR, Monterotondo, Rome, Italy.
4
Department of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy.
5
Laboratory of Genome Integrity, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD, 20893, USA.
6
Department of Anatomical, Histological, Forensic and Orthopaedic Sciences, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy. manuela.pellegrini@cnr.it.
7
Institute of Cell Biology and Neurobiology, CNR, Monterotondo, Rome, Italy. manuela.pellegrini@cnr.it.
8
Department of Medicine and Health Science 'V. Tiberio', University of Molise, Campobasso, Italy. manuela.pellegrini@cnr.it.

Abstract

Hereditary deficiencies in DNA damage signaling are invariably associated with cancer predisposition, immunodeficiency, radiation sensitivity, gonadal abnormalities, premature aging, and tissue degeneration. ATM kinase has been established as a central player in DNA double-strand break repair and its deficiency causes ataxia telangiectasia, a rare, multi-system disease with no cure. So ATM represents a highly attractive target for the development of novel types of gene therapy or transplantation strategies. Atm tamoxifen-inducible mouse models were generated to explore whether Atm reconstitution is able to restore Atm function in an Atm-deficient background. Body weight, immunodeficiency, spermatogenesis, and radioresistance were recovered in transgenic mice within 1 month from Atm induction. Notably, life span was doubled after Atm restoration, mice were protected from thymoma and no cerebellar defects were observed. Atm signaling was functional after DNA damage in vivo and in vitro. In summary, we propose a new Atm mouse model to investigate novel therapeutic strategies for ATM activation in ataxia telangiectasia disease.

PMID:
 
29472706
 
PMCID:
 
PMC5833483
 
DOI:
 
10.1038/s41419-018-0357-8