Department of Molecular Pathology, Dokuz Eylul University, Graduate School of Health Sciences, IZMIR, TURKEY.
Turk Patoloji Derg. 2021;37(2):93-105. doi: 10.5146/tjpath.2020.01504.
Aziz Sancar, Nobel Prize winning Turkish scientist, made several discoveries which had a major impact on molecular sciences, particularly disciplines that focus on carcinogenesis and cancer treatment, including molecular pathology. Cloning the photolyase gene, which was the initial step of his work on DNA repair mechanisms, discovery of the "Maxicell" method, explanation of the mechanism of nucleotide excision repair and transcription-coupled repair, discovery of "molecular matchmakers", and mapping human excision repair genes at single nucleotide resolution constitute his major research topics. Moreover, Sancar discovered the cryptochromes, the clock genes in humans, in 1998, and this discovery led to substantial progress in the understanding of the circadian clock and the introduction of the concept of "chrono-chemoterapy" for more effective therapy in cancer patients. This review focuses on Aziz Sancar's scientific studies and their reflections on molecular pathology of neoplastic diseases. While providing a new perspective for researchers working in the field of pathology and molecular pathology, this review is also an evidence of how basic sciences and clinical sciences complete each other.
阿齐兹·桑贾尔，土耳其裔诺贝尔奖得主科学家，在分子科学领域做出了几项重大发现，尤其是在癌症发生和癌症治疗方面，包括分子病理学。他克隆了光解酶基因，这是他研究 DNA 修复机制的第一步，发现了“Maxicell”方法，解释了核苷酸切除修复和转录偶联修复的机制，发现了“分子媒人”，并以单核苷酸分辨率定位了人类切除修复基因。此外，桑贾尔于 1998 年发现了人体中的隐花色素，即生物钟基因，这一发现促进了对生物钟的理解，并引入了“chrono-chemotherapy”的概念，以提高癌症患者的治疗效果。本文重点介绍了阿齐兹·桑贾尔的科学研究及其对肿瘤疾病分子病理学的影响。这不仅为病理学和分子病理学领域的研究人员提供了新的视角，也证明了基础科学和临床科学是如何相互补充的。
