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Keeping Score: A new way to identify winners and losers in tumor genetics

Did you know that cancer cells choose to improperly repair their DNA when it is damaged? But WHY?

Learn about the development of the RPS score that determines whether a tumor is repairing its DNA reliably or improperly and what this means for breast and lung cancer treatment and prognosis.

Original article

Comment (1)

Rigney
ReplyJanuary 13, 2016 at 6:36 pm

Great video, I really enjoy bridging the gap between primary literature and the public. However, the recombination proficiency score, or RPS, is actually inverse of the expression of the 4 genes. So the higher expression of these genes, the lower the RPS is, and have what we consider a more aggressive cancer. These genes are known to inhibit homologous recombination (the error-free DNA repair mechanism) and therefore the cancer cells go through an error-prone mechanism to try to repair DNA. This is where mutations occur and drive malignancy and increase cancer aggression. What is cool is the fact that although cancers with low RPS seem to be more aggressive, they also seem to be more sensitive to platinum-based chemotherapy drugs, advocating for personalized cancer treatments.