Scientists have discovered a ‘toolkit’ for repairing DNA breaks associated with aging, cancer and motor neuron diseases

Scientists from the Universities of Sheffield and Oxford have discovered a new “toolkit” for repairing damaged DNA that can lead to aging, cancer and motor neurone disease (MND).

Published in Natural communications, research shows that a protein called TEX264, along with other enzymes, is able to recognize and “eat” toxic proteins that can stick to DNA and cause DNA damage. The accumulation of broken, damaged DNA can cause cellular aging, cancer and neurological diseases such as MND.

Until now, ways to repair this kind of DNA damage have been poorly understood, but scientists hope to use this new set of tools to repair proteins to protect us from aging, cancer and neurological diseases.

The results could also have implications for chemotherapy, which deliberately causes DNA breaks in an attempt to kill cancer cells. Scientists believe that targeting the TEX264 protein could offer a new way to treat cancer.

“Failure to repair DNA breaks in our genome could impact our ability to live healthy lives as we age, as well as make us vulnerable to neurological diseases for example, motor neurone disease (MND). We hope that by understanding how our cells repair DNA breaks, we can help solve some of these problems, as well as explore new ways to treat cancer in the future,” said Professor Sherif El-Khamisi, co-founder and deputy director of the Institute for Healthy Living at the University of Sheffield.

Professor Christian Ramadan from the University of Oxford, who led the study, said: “Our discovery of TEX264, a protein that forms a specialized machinery for digesting toxic proteins from our DNA, significantly changes the current understanding of how cells repair the genome.” and thus protect us from accelerated aging, cancer and neurodegeneration. “I believe this discovery has great potential for future cancer treatment, and we are already continuing research in this direction.”

Professor Ramadan added: “I am very proud of my research team for discovering for the first time the involvement of TEX264 in DNA repair.”

Courtesy of the University of Sheffield