Abstract
DNA Polymerase Theta (POLQ) is a DNA polymerase involved in error-prone translesion DNA synthesis (TLS) and error-prone repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). In the present study, we examined whether abnormal POLQ expression may be involved in the pathogenesis of lung adenocarcinoma (LAC). First, we found overexpression of POLQ at both the mRNA and protein levels in LAC, using data from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and by immunohistochemical analysis of our LAC series. POLQ overexpression was associated with an advanced pathologic stage and an increased total number of somatic mutations in LAC. When H1299 human lung cancer cell clones overexpressing POLQ were established and examined, the clones showed resistance to a DSB-inducing chemical in the clonogenic assay and an increased frequency of mutations in the supF forward mutation assay. Further analysis revealed that POLQ overexpression was also positively correlated with Polo Like Kinase 4 (PLK4) overexpression in LAC, and that PLK4 overexpression in the POLQ-overexpressing H1299 cells induced centrosome amplification. Finally, analysis of the TCGA data revealed that POLQ overexpression was associated with an increased somatic mutation load and PLK4 overexpression in diverse human cancers; on the other hand, overexpressions of nine TLS polymerases other than POLQ were associated with an increased somatic mutation load at a much lower frequency. Thus, POLQ overexpression is associated with advanced pathologic stage, increased somatic mutation load, and PLK4 overexpression, the last inducing centrosome amplification, in LAC, suggesting that POLQ overexpression is involved in the pathogenesis of LAC.