DNA Damage News and Research

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Rare gene mutations associated with colorectal cancer also cause breast cancer

Rare mutations in the NTHL1 gene, previously associated with colorectal cancer, also cause breast cancer and other types of cancer.

12 Feb 2019

Research sheds light on how motor enzyme can promote genome integrity

Approximately one per cent of each organism's genome encodes helicases. Helicases are mostly known as motor enzymes that can unwrap double-stranded DNA by use of energy.

11 Feb 2019

New cancer drug that acts as ‘Trojan horse’ shows promise in patients with various cancers

A brand new type of cancer drug that acts as a 'Trojan horse' to get inside tumor cells has shown promise in patients with six different cancer types.

11 Feb 2019

New path toward improving effectiveness of chemotherapy in breast, ovarian cancer

People who inherit a faulty copy of the so-called "breast cancer genes" BRCA1 and BRCA2 are at high risk of cancer. About 10 percent of breast cancer cases and 15 percent of ovarian cancers can be traced back to a flaw in one of these genes.

5 Feb 2019

Researchers uncover how the immune system protects from bowel cancer

Researchers from Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin have discovered a protective mechanism which is used by the body to protect intestinal stem cells from turning cancerous.

31 Jan 2019

Enzyme that breaks down amino acids plays key role in promoting cellular senescence

Permanently arrested cell growth is known as "cellular senescence", and the accumulation of senescent cells may be one cause of aging in our bodies. Japanese researchers have discovered that a certain enzyme in our bodies promotes cellular senescence by producing reactive oxygen species.

24 Jan 2019

Cellular recycling process may prevent cancer initiation, finds study

Just as plastic tips protect the ends of shoelaces and keep them from fraying when we tie them, molecular tips called telomeres protect the ends of chromosomes and keep them from fusing when cells continually divide and duplicate their DNA.

24 Jan 2019

CRISPR-Cas9 circular permutants can sense and respond to viral proteases

Using a technique called circular permutation, researchers at the University of California Berkeley have created a new suite of Cas9 variants called Cas9-CPs, which will simplify design of Cas9-fusion proteins for diverse applications beyond simple DNA cutting, such as base editing and epigenetic modifications.

11 Jan 2019

Novel biomarker links tumor progression to genome instability

Our DNA is under constant attack. The delicate molecule that contains our genetic information is extremely vulnerable to everything from environmental agents, such as radiation, to the chemicals in the air we breathe and the food we eat.

10 Jan 2019

One reason behind frequent miscarriages could be faulty sperms

Scientists at the Imperial College in London have found that one of the reasons behind frequent miscarriages in a woman could be the fault of the sperms of their partners. Recurrent miscarriages are defined as three or more miscarriages that occur before 20 weeks of pregnancy are completed. One in 50 couples in the UK are affected by recurrent miscarriages.

6 Jan 2019

Sperm health may play a role in recurrent miscarriages

The early-stage study, from scientists at Imperial College London, investigated the sperm quality of 50 men whose partners had suffered three or more consecutive miscarriages.

4 Jan 2019

Change in genome of Caucasians could explain higher rates of esophageal cancer

A change in the genome of Caucasians could explain much-higher rates of the most common type of esophageal cancer in this population, a new study finds.

21 Dec 2018

New compound blocks genetic cause of familial ALS and frontotemporal dementia

Since the ice bucket challenge went viral in 2014, raising awareness and funding for ALS research, scientists have learned much about a disease that disconnects muscles from nerves, leading to muscle atrophy and eventual death. Their ultimate goal is to create medications capable of stopping ALS in its tracks.

18 Dec 2018

Scientists reveal how DNA damage leads to cancer and hereditary diseases

Scientists revealed how DNA damage influences mutations. Turned out that its contribution to mutagenesis was underestimated and many of the inheritance mutations are caused not by errors in DNA doubling, but by damage to this fragile molecule.

5 Dec 2018

Bacterial infections may contribute to far more cancers than previously thought, shows study

The Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine announced today the discovery that DnaK, a protein of the bacterium mycoplasma, interferes with the mycoplasma-infected cell's ability to respond to and repair DNA damage, a known origin of cancer.

5 Dec 2018

New study supports use of ZnO nanoparticles in sunscreens

Zinc oxide has long been recognized as an effective sunscreen agent. However, there have been calls for sunscreens containing ZnO nanoparticles to be banned because of potential toxicity and the need for caution in the absence of safety data in humans.

4 Dec 2018

UA researchers discover promising lead in genetic approach to treating deadly brain cancer

Glioblastoma, a deadly brain cancer that has grabbed headlines for claiming the lives of Sens. Edward Kennedy and John McCain, could be "tricked" into sparing more of its victims.

30 Nov 2018

New Mainz-based Collaborative Research Center aims to explore DNA repair and genome stability

From January 1, 2019, the German Research Foundation will be funding the new Collaborative Research Center 1361 on Regulation of DNA Repair & Genome Stability.

29 Nov 2018

Biological aging caused by cancer treatments correlates with cognitive decline

Cancer treatments are suspected to accelerate certain aging processes in the body. A new study has found that indicators of such biological aging correlate with declines in cognitive function in women who had undergone breast cancer treatment several years earlier.

26 Nov 2018

Sons of fathers who smoke have 51% lower sperm count

Studies have repeatedly linked maternal smoking during pregnancy with reduced sperm counts in male offspring. Now a research team at Lund University in Sweden has discovered that, independently of nicotine exposure from the mother, men whose fathers smoked at the time of pregnancy had half as many sperm as those with non-smoking fathers.

22 Nov 2018