Slow accumulation of mutations in Xpc−/− mice upon induction of oxidative stress

•Oxidative stress results in increased mutational load in Xpc−/− mice and cells.•Oxidative-stress induced mutagenesis in Xpc−/− liver is a slow process.•Oxidative stress results in a different mutational load in Xpc−/− and Xpa−/− mice. XPC is one of the key DNA damage recognition proteins in the global genome repair route of the nucleotide excision repair (NER) pathway. Previously, we demonstrated that NER-deficient mouse models Xpa−/− and Xpc−/− exhibit a divergent spontaneous tumor spectrum and proposed that XPC might be functionally involved in the defense against oxidative DNA damage. Others have mechanistically dissected several functionalities of XPC to oxidative DNA damage sensitivity using in vitro studies. XPC has been linked to regulation of base excision repair (BER) activity, redox homeostasis and recruitment of ATM and ATR to damage sites, thereby possibly regulating cell cycle checkpoints and apoptosis. XPC has additionally been implicated in recognition of bulky (e.g. cyclopurines) and non-bulky DNA damage (8-oxodG). However, the ultimate contribution of the XPC functionality in vivo in the oxidative DNA damage response and subsequent mutagenesis process remains unclear. Our study indicates that Xpc−/− mice, in contrary to Xpa−/− and wild type mice, have an increased mutational load upon induction of oxidative stress and that mutations arise in a slowly accumulative fashion. The effect of non-functional XPC in vivo upon oxidative stress exposure appears to have implications in mutagenesis, which can contribute to the carcinogenesis process. The levels and rate of mutagenesis upon oxidative stress correlate with previous findings that lung tumors in Xpc−/− mice overall arise late in the lifespan and that the incidence of internal tumors in XP-C patients is relatively low in comparison to skin cancer incidence.