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Tadayoshi Bessho, Ph.D. |
Research by Tadayoshi Bessho, Ph.D., assistant professor, and his group identifies an enzyme, XPF-ERCC1, as the first responder to a unique type of DNA damage called DNA interstrand cross-link.
The study, “Processing of a psoralen DNA interstrand cross-link by XPF-ERCC1 complex in vitro,” will be published next month in the Journal for Biological Chemistry.
The paper can now be accessed through the online version of the journal by clicking here. A graduate student in Dr. Bessho’s laboratory, Laura Fisher, is the first author of the paper.
“There is very little known about how DNA cross-links are repaired in human cells,” Dr. Bessho said. “This repair process involves multi-steps mediated by many different proteins. Laura found that while this enzyme cannot do all, it does initiate the repair process.
“Many chemotherapeutic agents produce DNA cross-links to kill cancer cells. During the treatment, some cancer cells become resistant to the agents by gaining an ability to repair the DNA cross-links efficiently. Knowing how this damage is repaired will help in developing better chemotherapeutics and regimen,” he said.
Dr. Bessho joined UNMC in 2003 from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. His research is funded through a five-year RO1 grant from the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health. Mika Bessho, research technologist, also was listed as an author of the paper.