DNA Repair

This version of the course is no longer available.
Need multiple seats for your university or lab? Get a quote
The page below is a sample from the LabCE course . Access the complete course and earn ASCLS P.A.C.E.-approved continuing education credits by subscribing online.

Learn more about (online CE course)
DNA Repair

We now know the DNA sequence is altered in a variety of ways. The DNA could have been copied wrong during replication, chemically altered by carcinogens, and even double or single strand breaks. The cell has a variety of mechanisms to fix the alterations in DNA before passing the error onto daughter cells, including: single-strand damage repair [mismatch repair system (MMR), base-excision repair (BER), nucleotide-excision repair (NER)] and double-strand damage repair [non-homologous end joining (NHEJ), microhomology-mediated end joining (MMEJ), homologous recombination (HR)]. The type of DNA damage dictates the repair system the cell uses to repair the damage.
DNA repair pathways are often faulty in cancer cells leading to an accumulation of DNA defects in the cancer genome. Issues with DNA repair cause the mutation rate in the cancer genome to be much higher than that seen when DNA repair processes are intact. Genomic instability is a hallmark of cancer.