title: Hijacking of the mismatch repair system to cause CAG expansion and cell death in neurodegenerative disease.
abstract: Mammalian cells have evolved sophisticated DNA repair systems to correct mispaired or damaged bases and extrahelical loops. Emerging evidence suggests that, in some cases, the normal DNA repair machinery is "hijacked" to become a causative factor in mutation and disease, rather than act as a safeguard of genomic integrity. In this review, we consider two cases in which active MMR leads to mutation or to cell death. There may be similar mechanisms by which uncoupling of normal MMR recognition from downstream repair allows triplet expansions underlying human neurodegenerative disease, or cell death in response to chemical lesion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. mcmurray.cynthia@mayo.edu
authors.forename: Cynthia T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: McMurray
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016923:Cell Death; D053843:DNA Mismatch Repair; D045643:DNA Repair Enzymes; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008954:Models, Biological; D009154:Mutation; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D019680:Trinucleotide Repeat Expansion
chemical_list: D045643:DNA Repair Enzymes