title: More forks on the road to replication stress recovery.
abstract: High-fidelity replication of DNA, and its accurate segregation to daughter cells, is critical for maintaining genome stability and suppressing cancer. DNA replication forks are stalled by many DNA lesions, activating checkpoint proteins that stabilize stalled forks. Stalled forks may eventually collapse, producing a broken DNA end. Fork restart is typically mediated by proteins initially identified by their roles in homologous recombination repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). In recent years, several proteins involved in DSB repair by non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) have been implicated in the replication stress response, including DNA-PKcs, Ku, DNA Ligase IV-XRCC4, Artemis, XLF and Metnase. It is currently unclear whether NHEJ proteins are involved in the replication stress response through indirect (signaling) roles, and/or direct roles involving DNA end joining. Additional complexity in the replication stress response centers around RPA, which undergoes significant post-translational modification after stress, and RAD52, a conserved HR protein whose role in DSB repair may have shifted to another protein in higher eukaryotes, such as BRCA2, but retained its role in fork restart. Most cancer therapeutic strategies create DNA replication stress. Thus, it is imperative to gain a better understanding of replication stress response proteins and pathways to improve cancer therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences, Colorado State University, Ft Collins, CO 80523, USA.
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.forename: Amanda K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Ashley
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hromas
authors.forename: Jac A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Nickoloff
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D053903:DNA Breaks, Double-Stranded; D004249:DNA Damage; D011088:DNA Ligases / Q000378:metabolism; D004260:DNA Repair; D004261:DNA Replication; D051747:DNA-Activated Protein Kinase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D051721:Rad52 DNA Repair and Recombination Protein / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D051721:Rad52 DNA Repair and Recombination Protein; D051747:DNA-Activated Protein Kinase; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D011088:DNA Ligases