Latest DNA repair Stories
The gene could also be involved in breast and ovarian cancer An international research consortium led by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), the CIBERER and the University of Wurzburg (Germany) has discovered a gene that can cause three totally different diseases, depending on how it is altered. The researchers, using next-generation massive ultrasequencing techniques, have sequenced the over 20,000 genes of a Fanconi anemia patient's genome. By adopting this strategy they...
A study led by Oscar Fernandez-Capetillo has deciphered the components of the machinery that duplicates DNA, the replisome, on which most chemotherapeutic agents currently act The Genomic Instability Group led by researcher Óscar Fernández-Capetillo at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), has for the first time obtained a panoramic photo of the proteins that take part in human DNA division, a process known as replication. The research article, published today in the...
Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center have found that a deficiency in an important anti-tumor protein, p53, can slow or delay DNA repair after radiation treatment. They suggest that this is because p53 regulates the expression of two enzymes (JMJD2b and SUV39H1) that control the folding of DNA. According to the researchers, p53 is highly inducible by radiation. Activation of p53 stabilizes chromosomes by promoting the repair of heterochromatin DNA, which controls the expression of nearby...
University of Alberta UAlberta research team uses caffeine and fruit flies to pinpoint genetic pathways that guide DNA repair in cancer cells. Researchers from the University of Alberta are abuzz after using fruit flies to find new ways of taking advantage of caffeine’s lethal effects on cancer cells—results that could one day be used to advance cancer therapies for people. Previous research has established that caffeine interferes with processes in cancer cells that control DNA...
Researchers at The Jackson Laboratory have identified a molecule that prevents repair of some cancer cells, providing a potential new "genetic chemotherapy" approach to cancer treatment that could significantly reduce side effects and the development of treatment resistance compared with traditional chemotherapy. In healthy people, white blood cells called B cells (or B lymphocytes) are a kind of sophisticated tool kit, making antibodies against pathogens or other invaders. In the process...
Biomedical Optics Express research details how terahertz pulses that destroy skin tissue at the same time increase tumor-suppressing proteins Terahertz (THz) radiation, a slice of the electromagnetic spectrum that occupies the middle ground between microwaves and infrared light, is rapidly finding important uses in medical diagnostics, security, and scientific research. As scientists and engineers find evermore practical uses for this form of radiation, questions persist about its...
Double-strand breaks in DNA happen every time a cell divides and replicates. Depending on the type of cell, that can be pretty often. Many proteins are involved in everyday DNA repair, but if they are mutated, the repair system breaks down and cancer can occur. Cells have two complicated ways to repair these breaks, which can affect the stability of the entire genome. Roger A. Greenberg, M.D., Ph.D., associate investigator, Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute and associate professor...
Studies suggest new approach to treating HIV A team of researchers based at Johns Hopkins has decoded a system that makes certain types of immune cells impervious to HIV infection. The system's two vital components are high levels of a molecule that becomes embedded in viral DNA like a code written in invisible ink, and an enzyme that, when it reads the code, switches from repairing the DNA to chopping it up into unusable pieces. The researchers, who report the find in the Jan. 21 early...
Cancer cells are resourceful survivors with plenty of tricks for staying alive. Researchers have uncovered one of these stratagems, showing how cells lacking the tumor suppressor BRCA1 can resume one form of DNA repair, sparing themselves from stagnation or death. The study appears in the January 21st issue of The Journal of Cell Biology. The BRCA1 protein helps to mend double-strand DNA breaks by promoting homologous recombination. Without it, cells can amass broken, jumbled, and fused...
Despite treatment with imatinib, a successful drug that targets chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), a deadly type of cancer, some patients may continue to be at risk for relapse because a tiny pool of stem cells is resistant to treatment and may even accumulate additional genetic aberrations, eventually leading to disease progression and relapse. These leukemia stem cells are full of genetic errors, loaded with potentially lethal breaks in DNA, and are in a state of constant self-repair. Now,...
