Rad51 requires a number of other proteins, including the Rad51 paralogs, for efficient recombination in vivo. Current evidence suggests that the yeast Rad51 paralogs, Rad55 and Rad57, are important in formation or stabilization of the Rad51 nucleoprotein filament. To gain further insights into the function of the Rad51 paralogs, reporters were designed to measure spontaneous or double-strand br...

OBJECT Variants of microRNA (miRNA)-binding sites in RAD51 gene's 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) are significantly associated with cancer risk, but the roles of these genetic variants in post-transcriptional regulation have not been elucidated. METHODS The SNPs of RAD51 were identified both in the regulatory region and in the coding region by means of the online database. The bioinformatic to...

Rad51p, the eukaryotic homolog of the prokaryotic recA protein, catalyzes strand exchange between single- and double-stranded DNA and is involved in both genetic recombination and double-strand break repair in the ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila. We have previously shown that disruption of the Tetrahymena RAD51 somatic macronuclear locus leads to defective germline micronuclear division and tha...

Activating KRAS mutations drive colorectal cancer tumorigenesis and influence response to anti-EGFR-targeted therapy. Despite recent advances in understanding Ras signaling biology and the revolution in therapies for melanoma using BRAF inhibitors, no targeted agents have been effective in KRAS-mutant cancers, mainly due to activation of compensatory pathways. Here, by leveraging the largest sy...

In the present study, we aimed to examine whether SET domain-containing methyltransferases are up-regulated in different classes of renal cell carcinoma. We immunoblotted against SET domain and quantified the expression of these modular domains. Furthermore, we examined the expression of Rad51, the key protein that confers genomic stability. There was enhanced expression of SET domain-containin...

BACKGROUND Ovarian serous adenocarcinoma can be divided into low- and high-grade tumors, which exhibit substantial differences in pathogenesis, clinicopathology, and prognosis. This study aimed to investigate the differences in the PH domain leucine-rich repeat protein phosphatase (PHLPP), forkhead homeobox type O 3a (FoxO3a), and RAD51 protein expressions, and their associations with prognosis...

Rad51 protein, involved in homologous recombination, is overexpressed in a variety of tumors, and its expression is correlated with a poor prognosis. Here we propose to exploit the overexpression of Rad51 in cancer cells to design a Rad51 promoter-based anticancer therapy. On average, Rad51 mRNA and protein levels are increased in cancer cells four- and sixfold, respectively. Serendipitously, w...

The breast/ovarian cancer susceptibility proteins BRCA1 and BRCA2 maintain genome stability, at least in part, through a functional role in DNA damage repair. They both colocalize with RAD51 at sites of DNA damage/replication and activate RAD51-mediated homologous recombination repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSB). Whereas BRCA2 interacts directly with and regulates RAD51, the role of BRCA1...

Integrins have been suggested as possible targets in anticancer therapy. Here we show that knockdown of integrins αVβ3, αVβ5, α3β1 and α4β1 and pharmacological inhibition using a cyclo-RGD integrin αVβ3/αVβ5 antagonist sensitized multiple high-grade glioma cell lines to temozolomide (TMZ)-induced cytotoxicity. The greatest effect was observed in LN229 cells upon integrin β3 silencing, which led...

BACKGROUND Control of DNA damage is frequently deregulated in solid tumors. Upregulation of genes within this process can be indicative of a more aggressive phenotype and linked with worse outcome. In the present article we identify DNA damage related genes associated with worse outcome in breast cancer. RESULTS 2286 genes were differentially expressed between normal breast tissue and basal-l...