Targeting mismatch repair: a challenge for personalized chemotherapy

Mismatch repair (MMR) is the major repair pathway for removal of errors occurring during replication, which is often inactive in human tumours. Because MMR can control the cellular response to the cytotoxic effects of some DNA damaging drugs, here we will discuss how the MMR status can influence the biological response to chemotherapy. In addition we illustrate how some features of MMR-defective tumours might be exploited for personalized therapy treatments.