# Regulation of the DNA damage Response

> **NIH NIH R56** · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $500,000

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Numerous environmental and cellular factors can induce DNA lesions or create other types of challenges that
can slow DNA replication, leading to replication stress. Failure to alleviate this stress and restart stalled
replication forks can cause genome instability, which can drive cancer initiation and progression and affect the
cellular response to chemotherapy. Hence, deciphering the cellular response to replication stress––the long-
term goal of this application––is imperative for understanding fundamental aspects of tumorigenesis. One
crucial aspect of the replication stress response involves replication fork reversal, a process that leads to the
formation of a four-way junction structure by the remodeling of both nascent and parental DNA strands. There
are a family of ATP-dependent translocases that promote fork reversal in vitro and in cells, but why so many
enzymes are involved in this process is not understood. We showed that one of these translocases, HLTF,
prevents a stress-resistant mode of replication by promoting fork reversal, and we elucidated the basic
mechanism by which cells continue replication upon HLTF loss. The object of this application is to further
elucidate the mechanisms by which HLTF mediates the replication stress response, characterizing its unique
role in this process. HLTF is a multi-functional protein and recent studies using a panel of HLTF mutants that
are each deficient for one of its activities have revealed unexpected roles for these activities in HLTF’s known
functions, raising a number of new and exciting questions. This application will address questions about the
molecular mechanisms by which HLTF promotes fork slowing and fork reversal in cells and determine the
impact of its loss on replisome stability, genome stability, cell proliferation. Aim 1 will investigate which
domains of HLTF are needed for fork slowing, fork reversal, and resistance to replication stress, and HLTF’s
association with the replication fork. HLTF’s dynamic interaction with the fork will also be probed. Aim 2 will
investigate a newly discovered function for HLTF in stabilizing the replication fork. These experiments will
employ a combination of molecular, cellular, genetic and proteomic approaches as well as single-molecule
imaging and tracking methods in Xenopus extracts to solve fundamental questions about how cells respond to
replication stress.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11141322
- **Project number:** 2R56ES016486-21
- **Recipient organization:** STANFORD UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Karlene A Cimprich
- **Activity code:** R56 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $500,000
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2002-05-01 → 2025-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11141322

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11141322, Regulation of the DNA damage Response (2R56ES016486-21). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-14 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11141322. Licensed CC0.

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