IMR Press / FBL / Volume 8 / Issue 4 / DOI: 10.2741/1121

Frontiers in Bioscience-Landmark (FBL) is published by IMR Press from Volume 26 Issue 5 (2021). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with Frontiers in Bioscience.

Article
DNA mismatch repair and cancer
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1 Markey Cancer Center and Department of Pathology, University of Kentucky Medical Center, Lexington, KY 40536, USA
Front. Biosci. (Landmark Ed) 2003, 8(4), 997–1017; https://doi.org/10.2741/1121
Published: 1 May 2003
Abstract

DNA mismatch repair (MMR) is an important genome caretaker system. It ensures genomic stability by correcting mismatches generated during DNA replication and recombination and by triggering apoptosis of cells with large amounts of DNA damage. Protein components responsible for these reactions are highly conserved through evolution, and homologs of bacterial MutS and MutL, which are key players in the initiation steps of both the strand-specific mismatch correction and MMR-dependent apoptotic signaling, have been identified in human cells. Inactivation of genes encoding these activities leads to genome-wide instability, particularly in simple repetitive sequences, and predisposition to certain types of cancer, including hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer.

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