Assessment of PARP-3 Distribution in Tissues of Cynomolgous Monkeys
Michèle Rouleau 1, Mohamed El-Alfy 1, Marie-Hélène Lévesque 1 and Guy G. Poirier 1*
1 Health and Environment Unit (MR,GGP) and Molecular and Oncologic Endocrinology (ME-A,M-HL), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Quebec, Laval University Research Center, Québec, Québec, Canada
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: guy.poirier{at}crchul.ulaval.ca.
Submitted on December 19, 2008
Accepted on 18 March 2009
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Abstract |
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Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 3 (PARP-3) is a newly characterized PARP. In contrast to the two best studied nuclear PARPs, PARP-1 and PARP-2, PARP-3 activity is apparently not stimulated by DNA damage. However, our previous work has demonstrated that PARP-3 interacts with several DNA damage response proteins, including Ku70/Ku80, DNA-PK and PARP-1, suggesting that it contributes to the DNA damage response. Furthermore, a possible function for PARP-3 in the regulation of gene expression has been inferred from our observations that it associates with Polycomb group proteins which are responsible for epigenetic modifications leading to gene silencing. In this report, we extend our characterization of PARP-3 by revealing its distribution in the tissues and cell types of adult cynomolgous monkeys using a well characterized PARP-3 polyclonal antibody. This study is the first to demonstrate that PARP-3 is genuinely expressed in most of the examined tissues. However, its expression is highly restricted to specific cell types of each tissue, indicating that PARP-3 expression is tightly regulated. One of the key findings of this study is that PARP-3 is highly expressed in the nuclei of epithelial cells forming the ducts of prostate, salivary glands, liver and pancreas and in the neurons of terminal ganglia.
Key Words:
poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase, PARP-3, immunohistochemistry, monkey, tissue distribution, ductal epithelia