DNA repair

New Findings Could Lead To Better Cancer Drugs

harminka — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:07:30 -0500

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shed new light on a process that fixes breaks in the genetic material of the body's cells. Their findings could lead to ways of enhancing chemotherapy drugs that destroy cancer cells by damaging their DNA.

Tumor-suppressing Protein Allows to Overcome Barrier to DNA Access

harminka — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 01:09:18 -0500

Like a mechanic popping the hood of a car to get at a faulty engine, a tumor-suppressing protein allows cellular repair mechanisms to pounce on damaged DNA by overcoming a barrier to DNA access.

DNA repair mechanisms relocate in response to stress

harminka — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:46:40 -0500

Like doctors making house calls, some DNA repair enzymes can relocate to the part of the cell that needs their help, a collaborative team of scientists at Emory University School of Medicine has found.

Perfectionist protein-maker trashes errors

harminka — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 04:06:56 -0600

The enzyme machine that translates a cell's DNA code into the proteins of life is nothing if not an editorial perfectionist.

Studying DNA repair and protein modification

harminka — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:14:51 -0600

This month's issue of Cold Spring Harbor Protocols features two articles detailing experimental methods for the analysis of molecular processes involved in DNA repair and post-translational modification of proteins.

Mechanisms that regulate DNA damage control and replication

harminka — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:09:52 -0600

Scientists at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have demonstrated important new roles for the protein kinase complex Cdc7/Dbf4 or Cdc7/Drf1 (Ddk) in monitoring damage control during DNA replication and reinitiating replication following DNA repair.

Few DNA repair genes maintain association with cancer in field synopsis

harminka — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 07:19:39 -0600

Variants of numerous DNA repair genes initially appeared to be statistically significantly associated with cancer risk in epidemiological studies.

Once suspect protein found to promote DNA repair, prevent cancer

harminka — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 08:24:34 -0500

An abundant chromosomal protein that binds to damaged DNA prevents cancer development by enhancing DNA repair, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science.

Researchers probe a DNA repair enzyme

harminka — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 02:46:38 -0600

U. of I. researchers have taken the first steps toward understanding how an enzyme repairs DNA.

Promising technique for repairing gene defect that causes spinal muscular atrophy

harminka — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 08:44:42 -0600

Researchers at the University of Delaware have discovered a novel technique--that acts like a “spell-checker” for correcting a misspelling in the DNA code--to repair the defective gene that causes spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). This hereditary neuromuscular disease is the number-one genetic killer of children under two years old.

Enhanced DNA-repair mechanism can cause breast cancer

harminka — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 07:48:52 -0500

Although defects in the "breast cancer gene," BRCA1, have been known for years to increase the risk for breast cancer, exactly how it can lead to tumor growth has remained a mystery.

New mechanism for DNA recombination, repair

harminka — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 06:55:59 -0500

A biochemistry research team led by Dr. Andrew H.-J. Wang and Dr. Ting-Fang Wang at the Institute of Biological Chemistry, Academia Sinica(IBCAS), has discovered that the RecA family recombinases function as a new type of rotary motor proteins to repair DNA damages.