Inherited germline mutations in either BRCA1 or BRCA2 confer a significant lifetime risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer. Defining how these two genes function at the cellular level is essential for understanding their role in tumour suppression. Although BRCA1 and BRCA2 were independently cloned over 10 years ago, it is only in the last few years that significant progress has been made towards understanding their function in cells. It is now widely accepted that both genes play critical roles in the maintenance of genome stability. Evidence implicates BRCA2 as an integral component of the homologous recombination machinery, whereas BRCA1 is an E3 ubiquitin ligase that has an impact on DNA repair, transcriptional regulation, cell-cycle progression and meiotic sex chromosome inactivation. In this article, I will review the most recent advances and provide a perspective of potential future directions in this field.
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October 2006
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October 25 2006
Cellular functions of the BRCA tumour-suppressor proteins
S.J. Boulton
S.J. Boulton
1
1DNA Damage Response Laboratory, Cancer Research UK, The London Research Institute, Clare Hall Laboratories, South Mimms EN6 3LD, U.K.
1email simon.boulton@cancer.org.uk
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
June 06 2006
Online ISSN: 1470-8752
Print ISSN: 0300-5127
© 2006 The Biochemical Society
2006
Biochem Soc Trans (2006) 34 (5): 633–645.
Article history
Received:
June 06 2006
Citation
S.J. Boulton; Cellular functions of the BRCA tumour-suppressor proteins. Biochem Soc Trans 1 October 2006; 34 (5): 633–645. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/BST0340633
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