Endonuclease III-like protein 1 is an

enzyme Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. A ...

that in humans is encoded by the ''NTHL1''

gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...

. As reviewed by Li et al., NTHL1 is a bifunctional DNA glycosylase that has an associated beta-elimination activity. NTHL1 is usually involved in removing oxidative pyrimidine lesions through

base excision repair Base excision repair (BER) is a cellular mechanism, studied in the fields of biochemistry and genetics, that repairs damaged DNA throughout the cell cycle. It is responsible primarily for removing small, non-helix-distorting base lesions from t ...

. NTHL1 catalyses the first step in base excision repair. It cleaves the N-glycosylic bond between the damaged base and its associated sugar residue and then cleaves the phosphodiester bond 3' to the AP site, leaving a 3'-unsaturated aldehyde after beta-elimination and a 5'-phosphate at the termini of the repair gap. Low expression of NTHL1 is associated with initiation and development of

astrocytoma Astrocytomas are a type of brain tumor. They originate in a particular kind of glial cells, star-shaped brain cells in the cerebrum called astrocytes. This type of tumor does not usually spread outside the brain and spinal cord and it does not usu ...

. Low expression of NTHL1 is also found in follicular thyroid tumors. A germ line homozygous mutation in ''NTHL1'' causes a cancer susceptibility syndrome similar to

Lynch syndrome Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) or Lynch syndrome is an autosomal dominant genetic condition that is associated with a high risk of colon cancer as well as other cancers including endometrial cancer (second most common), ovary, ...

References

Further reading