Anthracyclines induce DNA damage response-mediated protection against severe sepsis.
Authors:
Figueiredo, Nuno Chora, Angelo Raquel, Helena Pejanovic, Nadja Pereira, Pedro Hartleben, Björn Neves-Costa, Ana Moita, Catarina Pedroso, Dora Pinto, Andreia Marques, Sofia Faridi, Hafeez Costa, Paulo Gozzelino, Raffaella Zhao, Jimmy L Soares, Miguel P Gama-Carvalho, Margarida Martinez, Jennifer Zhang, Qingshuo Döring, Gerd Grompe, Markus Simas, J Pedro Huber, Tobias B Baltimore, David Gupta, Vineet Green, Douglas R Ferreira, João A Moita, Luis F
Citation:
Figueiredo N, etal., Immunity. 2013 Nov 14;39(5):874-84. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2013.08.039. Epub 2013 Oct 31.
Severe sepsis remains a poorly understood systemic inflammatory condition with high mortality rates and limited therapeutic options in addition to organ support measures. Here we show that the clinically approved group of anthracyclines acts therapeutically at a low dose regimen to confer robust protection against severe sepsis in mice. This salutary effect is strictly dependent on the activation of DNA damage response and autophagy pathways in the lung, as demonstrated by deletion of the ataxia telangiectasia mutated (Atm) or the autophagy-related protein 7 (Atg7) specifically in this organ. The protective effect of anthracyclines occurs irrespectively of pathogen burden, conferring disease tolerance to severe sepsis. These findings demonstrate that DNA damage responses, including the ATM and Fanconi Anemia pathways, are important modulators of immune responses and might be exploited to confer protection to inflammation-driven conditions, including severe sepsis.