Radiotherapy causes dose-limiting toxicity and long-term complications in rapidly renewing tissues, including the gastrointestinal tract. Currently, there is no FDA-approved agent for the prevention or treatment of radiation-induced intestinal injury. In this study, we have shown that PD 0332991 (PD), an FDA-approved selective inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 (CDK4/6), prevents radiation-induced lethal intestinal injury in mice. Treating mice with PD or a structurally distinct CDK4/6 inhibitor prior to radiation blocked proliferation and crypt apoptosis and improved crypt regeneration. PD treatment also enhanced LGR5+ stem cell survival and regeneration after radiation. PD was an on-target inhibitor of RB phosphorylation and blocked G1/S transition in the intestinal crypts. PD treatment strongly but reversibly inhibited radiation-induced p53 activation, which blocked p53-upregulated modulator of apoptosis–dependent (PUMA-dependent) apoptosis without affecting p21-dependent suppression of DNA damage accumulation, with a repair bias toward nonhomologous end joining. Further, deletion of
Liang Wei, Brian J. Leibowitz, Xinwei Wang, Michael Epperly, Joel Greenberger, Lin Zhang, Jian Yu
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