Super-resolution microscopy reveals the nanoscale cluster architecture of the DEK protein cancer biomarker

Agnieszka Pierzynska-Mach; Alberto Diaspro; Francesca Cella Zanacchi

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.108277

Super-resolution microscopy reveals the nanoscale cluster architecture of the DEK protein cancer biomarker

iScience. 2023 Oct 19;26(11):108277. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108277. eCollection 2023 Nov 17.

Authors

Agnieszka Pierzynska-Mach¹, Alberto Diaspro^{1

2}, Francesca Cella Zanacchi^{1

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Nanoscopy and NIC@IIT, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 16152 Genoa, Italy.
² Department of Physics (DIFILAB), Department of Physics, University of Genoa, 16146 Genoa, Italy.
³ Physics Department E. Fermi, University of Pisa, 56127 Pisa, Italy.
⁴ Centro per l'Integrazione della Strumentazione dell'Università di Pisa (CISUP), University of Pisa, 56127 Pisa, Italy.

Abstract

DEK protein, a key chromatin regulator, is strongly overexpressed in various forms of cancer. While conventional microscopy revealed DEK as uniformly distributed within the cell nucleus, advanced super-resolution techniques uncovered cluster-like structures. However, a comprehensive understanding of DEK's cellular distribution and its implications in cancer and cell growth remained elusive. To bridge this gap, we employed single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) to dissect DEK's nanoscale organization in both normal-like and aggressive breast cancer cell lines. Our investigation included characteristics such as localizations per cluster, cluster areas, and intra-cluster localization densities (ICLDs). We elucidated how cluster features align with different breast cell types and how chromatin decompaction influences DEK clusters in these contexts. Our results indicate that DEK's intra-cluster localization density and nano-organization remain preserved and not significantly influenced by protein overexpression or chromatin compaction changes. This study advances the understanding of DEK's role in cancer and underscores its stable nanoscale behavior.

Keywords: Cancer; Cell biology; Optical imaging.