Tight Regulation of Srs2 Helicase Activity Is Crucial for Proper Functioning of DNA Repair Mechanisms.

Proper DNA damage repair is one of the most vital and fundamental functions of every cell. Several different repair mechanisms exist to deal with various types of DNA damage, in various stages of the cell cycle and under different conditions. Homologous recombination is one of the most important repair mechanisms in all organisms.

A high-throughput chemical screen with FDA approved drugs reveals that the antihypertensive drug Spironolactone impairs cancer cell survival by inhibiting homology directed repair.

DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are the most severe type of DNA damage. DSBs are repaired by non-homologous end-joining or homology directed repair (HDR). Identifying novel small molecules that affect HDR is of great importance both for research use and therapy.