Cancer Review Highlights DNA Survival Pathways
The authors examined how cancer cells continued replicating despite damaged DNA and how these survival mechanisms could offer potential targets for treatment.
HYDERABAD: Cancer cells can activate mechanisms that allow them to survive DNA damage caused by chemotherapy and radiation, potentially contributing to treatment resistance, according to a review co‑authored by researchers from BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus.
Prof. Arti Dhar of the department of oharmacy and research scholar Ganesh P. Lahane contributed to the review, ‘Exploiting DNA Damage Tolerance for Precision Oncology’, published in the peer‑reviewed journal ‘Trends in Cancer’.
The authors examined how cancer cells continued replicating despite damaged DNA and how these survival mechanisms could offer potential targets for treatment. The review focuses on DNA damage tolerance (DDT), a process that enables cells to bypass damaged sections of DNA and continue replication.
Two mechanisms — translesion synthesis (TLS) and template switching — allowed cells to copy DNA despite damage. These processes can also introduce errors during replication and lead to mutations, potentially driving tumour evolution and resistance to therapies.
Emerging strategies to target DNA damage tolerance pathways are discussed, including approaches involving translesion synthesis polymerases and USP1, a protein involved in cellular processes. “These approaches are being investigated for their potential to make cancer cells more sensitive to DNA‑damaging treatments,” Dhar said.
Lahane highlighted the possible use of biomarkers such as homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) and tumour mutational burden (TMB) to identify vulnerabilities in individual tumours. Such markers could help guide treatment combinations based on the biological characteristics of a cancer.
The authors clarified that the review does not report a new clinical treatment. Instead, it consolidates existing research to identify directions for further investigation into DNA damage tolerance and precision oncology, which aims to tailor treatment to the characteristics of individual tumours.
