DNA damage can cause mutations during replication.
Mutagenesis is an important factor during the initiation and progression of human cancers.
A similar mutagenesis pathway is most likely operational in humans. Hence, understanding damage-induced mutagenesis is a key to the understanding of carcinogenesis. Furthermore, this mutagenesis pathway offers an exciting novel target for cancer prevention and suppression through therapeutic inhibition of the pathway. DNA excision repair. DNA excision repair is a major cellular response to DNA damage.