A genetic roadmap to the response to genotoxic agents in human cells.

To maintain genome fidelity and prevent diseases such as cancer, our cells must constantly detect, and efficiently and precisely repair, DNA damage. Paradoxically, DNA-damaging agents in the form of radiation and chemotherapy are also used to treat cancer. Olivieri et al. used a CRISPR-based screen to identify genes that, when disrupted, lead to sensitivity or resistance to 27 different DNA-damaging agents used in the lab and/or in the clinic to treat cancer patients¹. Their results reveal multiple new genes and connections that regulate these critical DNA damage repair pathways, with implications for basic and clinical research as well as cancer therapy.