Via the Cambridge Evening News, a piece on progress towards therapies for cancer - and potentially aging - based on manipulating the biochemical mechanisms of DNA repair: "The ideal anti-cancer drug will hit the cancer cells much harder. Cancer cells are more reliant on DNA repair than other cells, which makes it possible to target them more accurately. Of the three compounds we have in clinical trials, the one we are most excited about is the DNA repair inhibitor, PARP ... DNA repair mechanism also controls ageing, and how it works slows down as you get older. Making human cells repair DNA better could make you live longer, we are just at the tip of the iceberg with all this."
Link: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/business/news/2006/01/10/afceae49-c8d7-427f-839d-6a106fa0a40a.lpf