PARP and carcinogenesis

Abstract

Cancer is a complex disease that results from the successive accumulation of genetic and epigenetic alterations. These, together with transcriptional deregulation, and aberrations in post-translational modification, are the forces driving carcinogenesis. During the carcinogenesis, cells suffer environmental stress and genetic, epigenetic and other changes are induced, with each of these changes affecting further evolution of cancerous cells. Blocking these changes is important for cancer prevention and treatment. For couples of decades, poly(ADP-ribosylation) (PARylation) in the processes of carcinogenesis has been studied by using various models and human genetic and epidemiological studies and further mechanistic analysis at the molecular, cellular and in vivo levels has been conducted. The obtained evidence is being utilized for establishing effective and non-invasive strategies for cancer prevention. In this review we discuss how PARylation reaction and related molecules are involved in multi-step carcinogenesis. Molecules function in PARylation and involved in carcinogenesis are listed in Table 5.1.