DNA Damage News and Research

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Yeast 'DNA damage sensor' provides chemotherapy resistance clue

Cancer Research UK scientists have been part of an international collaboration that has revealed the structure of a protein found in simple yeast cells and shown how it flags up damaged DNA for repair. The results of their study are published in Nature*. The finding may provide clues as to how some cancer cells become resistant to certain chemotherapy drugs.

11 Jun 2009

Gene activity reveals dynamic stroma microenvironment in prostate cancer

As stroma - the supportive framework of the prostate gland - react to prostate cancer, changes in the expression of genes occur that induce the formation of new structures such as blood vessels, nerves and parts of nerves, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in a report that appears in the current issue of the journal Clinical Cancer Research.

9 Jun 2009

Research links intestinal inflammation with systemic chromosome damage

UCLA scientists have linked for the first time intestinal inflammation with systemic chromosome damage in mice, a finding that may lead to the early identification and treatment of human inflammatory disorders, some of which increase risk for several types of cancer.

1 Jun 2009

New findings on how lithium may help radiation target cancer

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center investigators have uncovered a mechanism that helps explain how lithium, a drug widely used to treat bipolar mood disorder, also protects the brain from damage that occurs during radiation treatments.

4 May 2009

DNA protecting protein helps cancer drug to kill cells

Some DNA repair enzymes can become double-edged swords - If they work too slowly, they can block necessary cell maintenance and contribute to cell death.

30 Apr 2009

New study overturns orthodoxy on how macrophages kill bacteria

For decades, microbiologists assumed that macrophages, immune cells that can engulf and poison bacteria and other pathogens, killed microbes by damaging their DNA.

27 Apr 2009

Research shows how p53 mutations link to high-grade breast cancer, poor outcomes

In what is believed to be the largest study of its kind in the US, researchers have found that almost 26 percent of women studied who have breast cancer have mutations in a gene important in controlling cell growth and death, and that patients with mutations in this gene - known as p53 - had poorer outcomes including a significantly increased risk of death from the cancer.

20 Apr 2009

New nucleotide could revolutionize epigenetics

Anyone who studied a little genetics in high school has heard of adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine - the A,T,G and C that make up the DNA code.

16 Apr 2009

Researchers model 3D structures of proteins that control human clock

In an Early Edition issue of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on April 9, 2009, the researchers report that they have been able to determine the molecular structure of a plant photolyase protein that is surprisingly similar to two cryptochrome proteins that control the "master clock" in humans and other mammals.

12 Apr 2009

Discovery of key decision-point at which cells with broken DNA repair themselves or die

When cells undergo potentially catastrophic damage, for example as a result of exposure to ionizing radiation, they must make a decision: either to fix the damage or program themselves for death, a process called apoptosis.

12 Apr 2009

Novel method for comprehensive proteome analysis

Investigators at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have deciphered a large percentage of the total protein complement (proteome) in Schizosaccharomyces pombe (S. pombe) fission yeast.

9 Apr 2009

Rak gene helps protect tumor suppressor in breast cancer

Scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have discovered a gene that protects PTEN, a major tumor-suppressor that is reduced but rarely mutated in about half of all breast cancers.

6 Apr 2009

DNA repair mechanisms relocate in response to stress

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.

29 Mar 2009

Alcohol flush signals increased cancer risk among east Asians

Many people of East Asian descent possess an enzyme deficiency that causes their skin to redden, or flush, when they drink alcohol.

23 Mar 2009

Discovery of new protein important in breast cancer gene's role in DNA repair

For years, researchers have known that under normal conditions, the breast cancer protein BRCA1 orchestrates the repair of damaged DNA, but the details of just how BRCA1 moves to the damaged site and recruits the right nuclear repairmen for DNA restoration remains a mystery.

20 Mar 2009

Emphysema linked to accelerated aging protein

A University of Iowa study is apparently the first to make a connection between a rare, hereditary premature aging disease and cell damage that comes from smoking.

8 Feb 2009

Source of cancer stem cells' resistance to radiation discovered

Much to the dismay of patients and physicians, cancer stem cells - tiny powerhouses that generate and maintain tumor growth in many types of cancers - are relatively resistant to the ionizing radiation often used as therapy for these conditions.

5 Feb 2009

Scientists discover missing link in the way cells protect themselves against cancer

Cancer Research UK scientists have discovered a missing link in the way cells protect themselves against cancer, according to research published in Genes & Development.

5 Feb 2009

Exposure to second-hand smoke and alcohol significantly raises the risk of liver disease

The finding adds to mounting evidence that tobacco smoke and alcohol are worse for health as a combination, beyond the individual exposure risks, said Shannon Bailey, Ph.D., an associate professor in the UAB Department of Environmental Health Sciences and a co-lead author on the study.

3 Feb 2009