Question

Cell Biology Question:

How does defective DNA repair have an effect on cancer cell proliferation? (explain please)

Answer 1

Cancerous cell proliferation is a phenomenon in which multiple cellular pathways play a critical role. Not only unregulated cellular proliferation takes place, but un-checked and low-fidelity DNA replication also takes place. As one of the most interesting reasons, mutations in the DNA secondary to faulty DNA replication and failure of repair remains one fo the major reasons for cancer onset.

It is a very well known fact that our body contains many proto-oncogenes which are regulatory genes present in the body maintaining the normal function under normal conditions but tend to be cancerous in nature when the target gene is either mutated or faulty DNA replication takes place. Although such mutations are not heriditary in nature, but they can cause irreversible damage in the host. Thus, whenever a defective DNA repair takes place in the regulatory region of the gene or the coding sequence itself, or the proto-oncogene, cancerous growth generally takes place.

Hence, it is highly advisable to prevent exposures to potentially cancerous chemicals and stimuli since they not only impair DNA repair, but can also cause irreversible damage to the DNA.