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Individuals with certain mutations in the gene BRCA2 are at a very high risk for developing breast cancer because a DNA repair pathway cannot properly repair ongoing wear and tear to the DNA. In their Perspective, Witt and Ashworth discuss new findings (Howlett et al.) showing that other mutations in this same BRCA2 gene are one cause of another disease, Fanconi anemia, also thought to be a result of defective DNA repair. This unexpected result identifies BRCA2 as a central control point in the DNA repair mechanism of cells, which maintains the stability of the genome.
The authors are at The Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre, The Institute of Cancer Research, London SW3 6JB, UK. E-mail: elisa{at}icr.ac.uk
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In Science Magazine
REPORTS
Niall G. Howlett, Toshiyasu Taniguchi, Susan Olson, Barbara Cox, Quinten Waisfisz, Christine de Die-Smulders, Nicole Persky, Markus Grompe, Hans Joenje, Gerard Pals, Hideyuki Ikeda, Edward A. Fox, and Alan D. D'Andrea (26 July 2002) Science297 (5581), 606.
[DOI: 10.1126/science.1073834] |Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »|Supporting Online Material »
INTRODUCTION TO SPECIAL ISSUE
Paula Kiberstis and Jean Marx (26 July 2002) Science297 (5581), 543.
[DOI: 10.1126/science.297.5581.543] |Summary »|PDF »
THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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