C1orf109L promote R-loop accumulation induced DNA damage to inhibit cell growth

As a function unknown gene, C1orf109 is lower expression in various cells. Here, we reported that C1orf109L, the longest variant of C1orf109, which interacted with R-loop-regulating proteins to trigger R-loop, a three-stranded nucleic acid structure frequently mediated genome instability, accumulation. C1orf109L induce chronic DNA damage to promote P21 upregulation and strongly inhibits cell growth in vitro and in vivo by arresting the cell cycle in the G2 phase. With camptothecin (CPT), an R-loop activator, treatment, C1orf109L further triggers R-loop accumulation-induced DNA damage and promotes cell death by activating cell-death pathway. Furthermore, CPT treatment increases C1orf109L ubiquitination and turnover, which inhibits cell death and promotes the G0/G1 phase of the cell cycle. Therefore, our data illustrated the mechanisms underlying C1orf109L-related cell growth inhibition and provide feasibility and limitations for C1orf109L as a potential target for cancer therapy.