Dysfunctional mitochondria may underlie resistance to radiation therapy
Maxim Frolov, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and colleagues investigated the effects of a mutation in a gene called E2F, which controls other genes responsible for initiating programmed cell death, a normal function in most cells. Cells undergo programmed cell death — or apoptosis — when they are no longer needed, as a normal part of aging, or in response to environmental factors like radiation that damage cellular DNA. …