DNA mismatch repair (MMR) is one of the biological pathways, which plays a critical role in DNA home- ostasis, primarily by repairing base-pair mismatches and insertion/deletion loops that occur during DNA replicati...DNA mismatch repair (MMR) is one of the biological pathways, which plays a critical role in DNA home- ostasis, primarily by repairing base-pair mismatches and insertion/deletion loops that occur during DNA replication. MMR also takes part in other metabolic pathways and regulates cell cycle arrest. Defects in MMR are associated with genomic instability, predisposition to certain types of cancers and resistance to certain therapeutic drugs. Moreover, genetic and epigenetic alterations in the MMR system demonstrate a significant relationship with human fertility and related treatments, which helps us to understand the etiology and susceptibility of human infertility. Alterations in the MMR system may also influence the health of offspring conceived by assisted reproductive technology in humans. However, further studies are needed to explore the specific mechanisms by which the MMR system may affect human infertility. This review addresses the physiological mechanisms of the MMR system and associations between altera- tions of the MMR system and human fertility and related treatments, and potential effects on the next generation.展开更多
基金Project supported by the National Basic Research Programs (973) of China(Nos.2012CB944901 and 2014CB943302)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.81200475,81370760,and 81571500)the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China(No.LZ13H040001)
文摘DNA mismatch repair (MMR) is one of the biological pathways, which plays a critical role in DNA home- ostasis, primarily by repairing base-pair mismatches and insertion/deletion loops that occur during DNA replication. MMR also takes part in other metabolic pathways and regulates cell cycle arrest. Defects in MMR are associated with genomic instability, predisposition to certain types of cancers and resistance to certain therapeutic drugs. Moreover, genetic and epigenetic alterations in the MMR system demonstrate a significant relationship with human fertility and related treatments, which helps us to understand the etiology and susceptibility of human infertility. Alterations in the MMR system may also influence the health of offspring conceived by assisted reproductive technology in humans. However, further studies are needed to explore the specific mechanisms by which the MMR system may affect human infertility. This review addresses the physiological mechanisms of the MMR system and associations between altera- tions of the MMR system and human fertility and related treatments, and potential effects on the next generation.