Upside-down world: DNA protecting protein helps cancer drug to kill cells

Some DNA repair enzymes can become double-edged swords - If they work too slowly, they can block necessary cell maintenance and contribute to cell death. This could explain the somewhat mysterious success of the widely used cancer drug 5-Fluorouracil (5FU) and help clinicians to predict patient's response to chemotherapy, according to new findings from the University of Basel, Switzerland. The work, published in this week's issue of PLoS Biology, reports that 5FU keeps the DNA-repair enzyme TDG too busy to perform properly in cancer cells, thereby promoting tumour death...

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