The Ubiquitin-Interacting Motif–Containing Protein RAP80 Interacts with BRCA1 and Functions in DNA Damage Repair Response

Abstract

In this study, we examine the potential role of receptor-associated protein 80 (RAP80), a nuclear protein containing two ubiquitin-interacting motifs (UIM), in DNA damage response and double-strand break (DSB) repair. We show that following ionizing radiation and treatment with DNA-damaging agents, RAP80 translocates to discrete nuclear foci that colocalize with those of γ-H2AX. The UIMs and the region of amino acids 204 to 304 are critical for the relocalization of RAP80 to ionizing radiation–induced foci (IRIF). These observations suggest that RAP80 becomes part of a DNA repair complex at the sites of IRIF. We also show that RAP80 forms a complex with the tumor repressor BRCA1 and that this interaction is mediated through the BRCA1 COOH-terminal repeats of BRCA1. The UIMs are not required for the interaction of RAP80 with BRCA1. Knockdown of RAP80 in HEK293 cells significantly reduced DSB-induced homology-directed recombination (HDR). Moreover, inhibition of RAP80 expression by small interfering RNA increased radiosensitivity, whereas increased radioresistance was observed in human breast cancer MCF-7 cells with overexpression of RAP80. Taken together, our data suggest that RAP80 plays an important role in DNA damage response signaling and HDR-mediated DSB repair. We further show that RAP80 can function as a substrate of the ataxia-telangiectasia mutated protein kinase in vitro, which phosphorylates RAP80 at Ser²⁰⁵ and Ser⁴⁰². We show that this phosphorylation is not required for the migration of RAP80 to IRIF. [Cancer Res 2007;67(14):6647–56]