Oxidative stress accelerates repeat sequence instability and base substitutions promoting gastrointestinal driver mutations in MSH2 deficient mice.

backgroundLoss of DNA mismatch repair (MMR) increases mutagenesis and tumorigenesis. mutS homolog 2 (MSH2), a central component of the MMR pathway, is essential for correcting base-base mismatches and insertion/deletion loops during DNA replication. To investigate how Msh2 deficiency cooperates with oxidative stress to drive mutagenesis and tumorigenesis, we employed an rpsL reporter gene assay using normal tissues before tumor development following treatment with an oxidizing agent.

resultsThe background mutation frequency in the small intestines of Msh2

conclusionOxidative stress promotes repeat-associated mutagenesis, which manifests as MSI and base substitutions in MMR-deficient intestinal tissues, thereby enhancing the mutator phenotype and increasing the overall mutation burden. This process can be sensitively captured using our rpsL assay, which serves as a functional indicator of MMR deficiency and replication instability in normal tissues before tumor formation. This increases the likelihood of driver mutations in oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, ultimately accelerating early tumorigenesis. This study demonstrated that MSH2 is essential for maintaining genome stability under oxidative conditions and functions as a key suppressor of oxidative stress-induced tumorigenesis.