Our DNA is not indestructible. Throughout the course of our lives, DNA can break in response to natural and environmental factors. Thankfully, our bodies have dedicated enzymes and pathways which can glue our broken DNA back ...
Nov 15, 2023
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Every cell has two mechanisms for repairing DNA single- or double-strand breaks, which can be induced by such factors as environmental toxins, chemotherapy, or ionizing radiation. The first one consists of the DNA repair ...
Sep 21, 2022
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Inositol is a sugar required for cells to survive. Most cells either get it from the bloodstream or make it themselves. Since there is plenty of inositol available, some cancer cells decide to stop making it. Cold Spring ...
Oct 27, 2021
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Treatments that harness the immune system to fight cancer have greatly improved outcomes for some people with cancer. Scientists are learning more about why some people respond much better than others to these drugs.
Dec 1, 2020
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Many chemotherapy drugs kill cancer cells by severely damaging their DNA. However, some tumors can withstand this damage by relying on a DNA repair pathway that not only allows them to survive, but also introduces mutations ...
Jun 6, 2019
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A pair of collaborative studies led by Fen-Biao Gao, Ph.D., have identified two potential drug targets for the diseases amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). The studies, which appear in Nature ...
May 15, 2019
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Proteins commonly known as BRCA—short for BReast CAncer susceptibility gene- serve a critical role in cellular DNA repair, but when mutated they allow genetic errors to replicate, facilitating cancer development. If the ...
Jun 12, 2018
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The busy world inside a cell is directed by its DNA blueprint. When the blueprints are altered, cells can sicken, die or become cancerous. To keep DNA in working order, cells have ways to detect and mend damaged DNA.
Nov 8, 2017
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Research by scientists at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) has revealed how cancer cells hijack DNA repair pathways to prevent telomeres, the endcaps of chromosomes, from shortening, thus allowing the ...
Nov 8, 2016
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Many chemotherapy drugs work by damaging cancer cells' DNA so severely that the cells are forced to commit cellular suicide. However, these drugs don't work for all patients: If cells can repair the DNA damage, they may survive ...
Nov 2, 2016
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