We sought to identify novel genes associated with cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II) (CDDP) resistance, and by differential display analysis, we found that the human breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility gene BRCA1 was overexpressed in CDDP-resistant MCF-7 cells. A recent report that BRCA1 and human Rad51 colocalize in S-phase cells suggests a role for BRCA1 in DNA damage repair. We hypothesiz...

BACKGROUND The early preimplantation embryo relies on mRNA and protein from the oocyte to detect DNA damage and activate DNA repair, cell cycle arrest or apoptosis. Expression of some repair genes has been detected in mammalian oocytes and embryos; however, little is known about DNA repair gene expression in human blastocysts. In this study, DNA repair gene expression was investigated in human ...

We investigated whether mutations in the p53 tumor suppressor gene alter UV sensitivity and/or repair of UV-induced DNA damage in primary human skin fibroblasts from patients with Li-Fraumeni syndrome, heterozygous for mutations in one allele of the p53 gene (p53 wt/mut) and sublines expressing only mutant p53 (p53 mut). The p53 mut cells were more resistant than the p53 wt/mut cells to UV cyto...

DNA repair gene polymorphisms have been implicated as susceptibility factors in cancer development. It is possible that DNA repair polymorphisms may also influence the risk of gene mutation. The 399Gln polymorphism in the DNA repair gene XRCC1 has been indicated to have a contributive role in DNA adduct formation, sister chromatid exchange, and an increased risk of cancer development. Two hundr...

Although it is generally known that mitochondria are defective in DNA damage processing, little is known about the DNA repair pathways and mechanisms that exist in these vital organelles. Certain lesions that are removed by base excision repair are efficiently removed in mitochondria, whereas some bulky lesions that are removed by nucleotide excision repair are not repaired in these organelles....

Chimeric oligonucleotides are synthetic molecules comprised of RNA and DNA bases assembled in a double hairpin conformation. These molecules have been shown to direct gene conversion events in mammalian cells and animals through a process involving at least one protein from the DNA mismatch repair pathway. The mechanism of action for gene repair in mammalian cells has been partially elucidated ...