New switch decides between genome repair, death of cells
Wednesday, September 28, 2016 - 03:35
in Biology & Nature
The genetic information of every cell is encoded in the sequence of the DNA double helix. Double strand breaks in the DNA, which can be induced by radiation, are a dangerous threat to the cells, and if not properly repaired can lead to cancer. Damaged cells need to decide whether the breaks can be fixed or whether they should be removed by a cellular suicide program called “apoptosis” before initiating cancer.