Elevated reactive oxygen species can drive the alternative lengthening of telomeres pathway in ATRX-null cancers.

ABSTRACT: The alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) pathway is a telomerase-independent mechanism for immortalization in cancer cells and is commonly activated in low-grade and high-grade glioma, as well as osteosarcoma. The ALT pathway can be activated under various conditions and has often been shown to include mutational loss of ATRX. However, this is insufficient in isolation and so other cellular event must also be implicated. It has been shown that excessive accumulation of DNA:RNA hybrid structures (R-loops) and/or formation of DNA-protein crosslinks (DPCs) can be other important driving factors. The underlying cellular events leading to R-loop and DPC formation in ALT cancer cells to date remain unclear. Here, we demonstrate that excessive cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) is an im

SUBMITTER: Goncalves T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11806356 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature