Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 12, 2026

Quantifying Replication Stress in Ovarian Cancer Cells Using Single-Stranded DNA Immunofluorescence
Published on: February 10, 2023
Exploiting replicative stress to treat cancer
Matthias Dobbelstein1, Claus Storgaard Sørensen2
1Institute of Molecular Oncology, Göttingen Center of Molecular Biosciences, Ernst Caspari Haus, University of Göttingen, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.
Abstract:
DNA replication in cancer cells is accompanied by stalling and collapse of the replication fork and signalling in response to DNA damage and/or premature mitosis; these processes are collectively known as 'replicative stress'. Progress is being made to increase our understanding of the mechanisms that govern replicative stress, thus providing ample opportunities to enhance replicative stress for therapeutic purposes. Rather than trying to halt cell cycle progression, cancer therapeutics could aim to increase replicative stress by further loosening the checkpoints that remain available to cancer cells and ultimately inducing the catastrophic failure of proliferative machineries. In this Review, we outline current and future approaches to achieve this, emphasizing the combination of conventional chemotherapy with targeted approaches.
Related Concept Videos
Replicative Cell Senescence
Treatment Resistant Cancers
The DNA Replication Fork
Cancer Therapies
However, cancer treatments can pose several challenges, as therapies used to kill cancer cells are generally also toxic to normal cells. Moreover, cancer cells mutate rapidly and can develop resistance to chemical agents or radiation therapy. Besides, all types of cancer cells may not respond to the same therapy. Some cancer cells respond to one...
Cancer Therapies
Adaptive Mechanisms in Cancer Cells
Some of the advantages that cancer cells have on normal cells include - enhanced ability to divide without terminally differentiating, induce new blood vessel formation,...

