New DNA Repair Mechanism Holds Promise for Precision Cancer Therapies

The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard withstands a closely-watched challenge to its patents for CRISPR-Cas9 as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) sides with the Broad over the University of California (UC)

Methylation of histone H3 at lysine-4 by a newly identified protein called SETD1A is vital for DNA repair, since it promotes the recruitment of a DNA repair protein RIF1 at damaged DNA sites with double stranded breaks. Deficiencies in H3 methylation or the SETD1A-BOD1L complex compromises the efficacy of anti-cancer PARP inhibitors and prevents non homologous end-joining repair mechanisms, and promotes unrestrained end-resection, restoring homologous recombination.