One of the biggest challenges in cancer treatment is chemoresistance: Tumors that initially respond well to chemotherapy become resistant over time. When that happens, treatment options are often limited.

A research team led by Arnab Ray Chaudhuri at the Department of Molecular Genetics, Erasmus MC Cancer Institute has now uncovered a mechanism by which BRCA2-deficient tumors develop this resistance. The proteins BRCA2 and FIGNL1 appear to have a different function than previously assumed.

“These findings change the paradigm of thought,” says Ray Chaudhuri. The team also identified ways to reverse or prevent resistance.