Cornell University: Explaining the key to chemotherapy resistance in cancer and its solutions

The researchers have discovered a new avenue that could explain how cancer cells develop resistance to chemotherapy, which in turn offers a potential solution

"It gives us the tools to manipulate and break down chemotherapy resistance in cancer cells," said

Many cancer drugs work by creating blocks on cancer cells as they replicate in their DNA

The study is the first to report how a kinase called DNA-PKcs acts as a sensor when the fork is under pressure due to blockage and promotes the fork's slowing and chemical resistance

"It's a whole new way of thinking about the effects of this kinase," Smolka said

The result opens the door to new cancer treatments, as DNA-PKcs inhibitors already exist and are being used in clinical trials

This study provides early evidence that DNA-PKcs inhibitors can be used in combination with chemotherapy, which impedes DNA replication and inhibitors that prevent the slower

In this study, the researchers used a method

Co-author of the study, Massimo Lopes, an expert on replication pressure at the University of Zurich, took images that confirm that in the presence of kinase inhibitors, replication forks are no longer reversed and slowed down

Finally, BRCA2-deficient breast cancers can develop resistance to the chemotherapy drugs used to treat them, and fork reversal is known to be associated

"This is another way to prove that slowing and bifurcation reversals are prevented by DNA-PKcs inhibitors, and it seems like a good way