Cockayne Syndrome: The many challenges and approaches to understand a multifaceted disease

Abstract The striking and complex phenotype of Cockayne syndrome (CS) patients combines progeria-like features with developmental deficits. Since the establishment of the in vitro culture of skin fibroblasts derived from patients with CS in the 1970s, significant progress has been made in the understanding of the genetic alterations associated with the disease and their impact on molecular, cellular, and organismal functions. In this review, we provide a historic perspective on the research into CS by revisiting seminal papers in this field. We highlighted the great contributions of several researchers in the last decades, ranging from the cloning and characterization of CS genes to the molecular dissection of their roles in DNA repair, transcription, redox processes and metabolism control. We also provide a detailed description of all pathological mutations in genes ERCC6 and ERCC8 reported to date and their impact on CS-related proteins. Finally, we review the contributions (and limitations) of many genetic animal models to the study of CS and how cutting-edge technologies, such as cell reprogramming and state-of-the-art genome editing, are helping us to address unanswered questions.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Vessoni,Alexandre Teixeira, Guerra,Camila Chaves Coelho, Kajitani,Gustavo Satoru, Nascimento,Livia Luz Souza, Garcia,Camila Carrião Machado
Format: Digital revista
Language:English
Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Genética 2020
Online Access:http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1415-47572020000200312
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