Oxidative and Energy Metabolism as Potential Clues for Clinical Heterogeneity in Nucleotide Excision Repair Disorders

Nucleotide excision repair (NER) is an important DNA repair pathway involved in the removal of a wide array of DNA lesions. The absence or dysfunction of NER results in the following distinct disorders: xeroderma pigmentosum (XP), Cockayne syndrome (CS), cerebrooculo-facio-skeletal (COFS) syndrome, UV-sensitive syndrome ((UVS)-S-S), trichothiodystrophy (TTD), or combined syndromes including XP/CS, XP/TTD, CS/TTD, and COFS/TTD. In addition to their well-characterized role in the NER signaling pathway, NER factors also seem to be important in biological processes that are not directly associated with DNA damage responses, including mitochondrial function and redox home-ostasis. The potential causative role of these factors in the large clinical spectrum seen in NER diseases is discussed in this review.