DNA Damage Responses and Human Disease

Call for Papers

The human genome is under continuous threat from environmental genotoxins and endogenous species generated during normal metabolic activities. It is estimated that every eukaryotic cell is exposed to tens of thousands of DNA breaks per day. Failure to repair these breaks results in human disease, such as cancer, neurodegeneration, and immunodeficiency. It also contributes to complications associated with diseases with high social impact such as diabetes and disorders of the cardiovascular and reproductive systems. Of the different activities that repair chromosomal DNA breaks, defects in resolving damaged DNA termini are among the most common causes of human disease.

In this special issue, we invite authors to submit original research articles as well as review articles that discuss how mammalian cells repair the different types of DNA damage and highlight the associations between defects in these processes and human disease. In particular, we will focus on cancer, neurodegeneration, and diabetes mellitus. We also welcome articles discussing emerging and controversial evidence for the importance of DNA repair in the ‘cancer stem cell’ phenotype and its implications in modulating resistance to conventional chemo- and radiotherapy. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Recent developments in our understanding of the DNA damage response pathways
• How defects in repairing chromosomal breaks result in human disease, particularly cancer and neurodegeneration
• Recent evidence linking DNA damage responses and diabetes
• Advances in DNA repair mechanisms in stem cells and their impact on therapeutic strategies
• The controversial evidence for the importance of DNA repair in the ‘cancer stem cell’ phenotype and its implications in modulating resistance to conventional chemo- and radiotherapy

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jna/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/submit/journals/jna/drhd/ according to the following timetable:

Lead Guest Editor

• Sherif F. El-Khamisy, Ain Shams Pharmacy College, Cairo, Egypt

Guest Editors

• Anthony Chalmers, Institute of Cancer Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
• Sameh Soror, Associate Professor at Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt