Role of DNA Repair Deficiency in Cancer Development

The DNA is constantly under attack from endogenous and exogenous damaging agents. The damaged DNA must be repaired quickly to avoid genomic instability and to prevent the occurrence of a malignant transformation. Once a lesion is detected, the DNA repair mechanism initiates and replaces the structurally altered base or any other abnormality. The cell repair mechanisms include direct reversal, excision repair (base excision repair [BER] and nucleotide excision repair [NER]), mismatch repair (MMR), homologous recombination repair (HR) and non-homologous end joining (NHEJ). Unrepaired DNA could lead to mutation, cell death or cancer. This review will discuss how the defects in DNA repair play a vital role in cancer initiation, development and progression.