DNA Damage Response and Immune Defense

DNA Damage Response and Immune Defense: Links and Mechanisms

DNA damage plays a causal role in numerous human pathologies including cancer, premature aging, and chronic inflammatory conditions. In response to genotoxic insults, the DNA damage response (DDR) orchestrates DNA damage checkpoint activation and facilitates the removal of DNA lesions. The DDR can also arouse the immune system by for example inducing the expression of antimicrobial peptides as ...

Integration of the DNA Damage Response with Innate Immune Pathways

DNA damage-induced immune response: Micronuclei provide key platform

DNA damage-induced activation of the cytoplasmic DNA sensor cGAS influences the outcome of infections, autoinflammation, and cancer. Recent studies by Harding et al. (2017. Nature. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature23470), Mackenzie et al. (2017. Nature. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature23449), and Bartsch et al. (2017. Human Molecular Genetics. https://doi.org/10.1093/hmg/ddx283) demonstrate a ro...

The DNA damage response arouses the immune system.

Although there is considerable knowledge of how DNA damage triggers cell cycle arrest, DNA repair, and apoptosis, little was known about its potential role in immune responses. Recently, we showed that genotoxic stress and stalled DNA replication forks induce the expression of ligands for the NKG2D receptor found in natural killer cells and certain T cells, cell types that are able to attack tu...

DNA damage response and neuroprotection.

The protection of genomic integrity is a major challenge for living cells that are continuously exposed to endogenous and environmental DNA-damaging insults. To cope with the consequences of DNA lesions which interfere with essential DNA-dependent processes including transcription and replication, cells are equipped with an efficient defense mechanism termed the DNA damage response. Its functio...