Test tube method analyzes and reconstitutes DNA-repair mechanism
December 15, 2004 | Source: KurzweilAI
One of five known DNA-repair mechanisms in cells has been completely analyzed and reconstituted in a test tube by an international collaboration of researchers led by scientists from the Keck School of Medicine.
The team is the first to reconstitute this pathway, known as the nonhomologous end joining pathway, or NHEJ, and NHEJ is only the third repair pathway to be reconstituted in the laboratory.
The ability to reconstitute the pathway has practical implications for areas such as cancer treatment. NHEJ is used to repair radiation damage, so inhibiting NHEJ in cancer cells could make radiation therapy more effective.