# Topics and Trends in Most Cited DNA Repair Mechanisms Papers, Class of 2026

*Canonical URL: https://pri.pepkio.com/top-papers/dna-repair-mechanisms/2026*

## What topics and trends defined most-cited DNA Repair Mechanisms research in the Class of 2026?

The Class of 2026 is defined by a shift towards targeted interventions and high-resolution methodologies. Surges in synthetic lethality and replication stress research underscore a focus on exploiting DNA repair vulnerabilities, while advanced structural techniques are reshaping our understanding of complex repair machinery.

## At a glance

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Field | DNA Repair Mechanisms |
| Cohort label | Class of 2026 (2024 publications) |
| Papers analyzed | 3401 |
| Papers ranked | 20 |
| Top topics in ranked papers | Homologous recombination, DNA double-strand breaks, PARP inhibitor |
| Publication window | Jan 1, 2024 – Dec 31, 2024 |
| Eligibility | Research articles; reviews excluded |
| Citation window | 18 months post-publication |
| 18m citation range | 37–343 |
| Data source | OpenAlex · Retrieved July 2026 |
| License | CC BY 4.0 |

## Rankings

| Rank | Title | Authors | Corresponding authors | Affiliation | Journal | 18m citations | DOI |
| ---: | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---: | --- |
| 1 | NBS1 lactylation is required for efficient DNA repair and chemotherapy resistance | Hengxing Chen, Yun Li, Huafu Li, Xiancong Chen, Huafeng Fu, Deli Mao, Wei Chen, Linxiang Lan, Chunming Wang, Kaishun Hu, Jia Li, Chengming Zhu, Ian Evans, Eddie Cheung, Daning Lu, Yulong He, Axel Behrens, Dong Yin, Changhua Zhang | Yulong He, Axel Behrens, Dong Yin, Changhua Zhang | Sun Yat-sen University, China | Nature | 343 | 10.1038/s41586-024-07620-9 |
| 2 | Transcription–replication conflicts underlie sensitivity to PARP inhibitors | Michalis Petropoulos, Angeliki Karamichali, Giacomo G Rossetti, Alena Freudenmann, Luca G Iacovino, Vasilis S Dionellis, Sotirios K Sotiriou, Thanos D Halazonetis | Thanos D. Halazonetis | University of Geneva, Switzerland | Nature | 112 | 10.1038/s41586-024-07217-2 |
| 3 | PARP1-DNA co-condensation drives DNA repair site assembly to prevent disjunction of broken DNA ends | Nagaraja Chappidi, Thomas Quail, Simon Doll, Laura T Vogel, Radoslav Aleksandrov, Suren Felekyan, Ralf Kühnemuth, Stoyno Stoynov, Claus A M Seidel, Jan Brugués, Marcus Jahnel, Titus M Franzmann, Simon Alberti | Simon Alberti | Technische Universität Dresden, Germany | Cell | 76 | 10.1016/j.cell.2024.01.015 |
| 4 | Cell-type-specific CAG repeat expansions and toxicity of mutant Huntingtin in human striatum and cerebellum | Kert Mätlik, Matthew Baffuto, Laura Kus, Amit Laxmikant Deshmukh, David A Davis, Matthew R Paul, Thomas S Carroll, Marie-Christine Caron, Jean-Yves Masson, Christopher E Pearson, Nathaniel Heintz | Nathaniel Heintz | The Rockefeller University, United States | Nature Genetics | 76 | 10.1038/s41588-024-01653-6 |
| 5 | Structure and repair of replication-coupled DNA breaks | Raphael Pavani, Veenu Tripathi, Kyle B Vrtis, Dali Zong, Raj Chari, Elsa Callen, Ajith V Pankajam, Gang Zhen, Gabriel Matos-Rodrigues, Jiajie Yang, Shuheng Wu, Giordano Reginato, Wei Wu, Petr Cejka, Johannes C Walter, André Nussenzweig | Raphael Pavani, Veenu Tripathi, André Nussenzweig | National Cancer Institute, United States | Science | 73 | 10.1126/science.ado3867 |
| 6 | The ribotoxic stress response drives UV-mediated cell death | Niladri K Sinha, Connor McKenney, Zhong Y Yeow, Jeffrey J Li, Ki Hong Nam, Tomer M Yaron-Barir, Jared L Johnson, Emily M Huntsman, Lewis C Cantley, Alban Ordureau, Sergi Regot, Rachel Green | Alban Ordureau, Sergi Regot, Rachel Green | Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, United States | Cell | 69 | 10.1016/j.cell.2024.05.018 |
| 7 | Discovery of WRN inhibitor HRO761 with synthetic lethality in MSI cancers | Stephane Ferretti, Jacques Hamon, Ruben de Kanter, Clemens Scheufler, Rita Andraos-Rey, Stephanie Barbe, Elisabeth Bechter, Jutta Blank, Vincent Bordas, Ernesta Dammassa, Andrea Decker, Noemi Di Nanni, Marion Dourdoigne, Elena Gavioli, Marc Hattenberger, Alisa Heuser, Christelle Hemmerlin, Jürgen Hinrichs, Grainne Kerr, Laurent Laborde, Isabel Jaco, Eloísa Jiménez Núñez, Hans-Joerg Martus, Cornelia Quadt, Markus Reschke, Vincent Romanet, Fanny Schaeffer, Joseph Schoepfer, Maxime Schrapp, Ross Strang, Hans Voshol, Markus Wartmann, Sarah Welly, Frédéric Zécri, Francesco Hofmann, Henrik Möbitz, Marta Cortés-Cros | Henrik Möbitz, Marta Cortés-Cros | Novartis BioMedical Research, Switzerland | Nature | 69 | 10.1038/s41586-024-07350-y |
| 8 | Chemoproteomic discovery of a covalent allosteric inhibitor of WRN helicase | Kristen A Baltgalvis, Kelsey N Lamb, Kent T Symons, Chu-Chiao Wu, Melissa A Hoffman, Aaron N Snead, Xiaodan Song, Thomas Glaza, Shota Kikuchi, Jason C Green, Donald C Rogness, Betty Lam, Maria E Rodriguez-Aguirre, David R Woody, Christie L Eissler, Socorro Rodiles, Seth M Negron, Steffen M Bernard, Eileen Tran, Jonathan Pollock, Ali Tabatabaei, Victor Contreras, Heather N Williams, Martha K Pastuszka, John J Sigler, Piergiorgio Pettazzoni, Markus G Rudolph, Moritz Classen, Doris Brugger, Christopher Claiborne, Jean-Marc Plancher, Isabel Cuartas, Joan Seoane, Laurence E Burgess, Robert T Abraham, David S Weinstein, Gabriel M Simon, Matthew P Patricelli, Todd M Kinsella | Matthew P. Patricelli, Todd M. Kinsella | Vividion Therapeutics, United States | Nature | 65 | 10.1038/s41586-024-07318-y |
| 9 | The PARP1 selective inhibitor saruparib (AZD5305) elicits potent and durable antitumor activity in patient-derived BRCA1/2-associated cancer models | Andrea Herencia-Ropero, Alba Llop-Guevara, Anna D Staniszewska, Joanna Domènech-Vivó, Eduardo García-Galea, Alejandro Moles-Fernández, Flaminia Pedretti, Heura Domènech, Olga Rodríguez, Marta Guzmán, Enrique J Arenas, Helena Verdaguer, Fernando J Calero-Nieto, Sara Talbot, Luis Tobalina, Elisabetta Leo, Alan Lau, Paolo Nuciforo, Rodrigo Dienstmann, Teresa Macarulla, Joaquín Arribas, Orland Díez, Sara Gutiérrez-Enríquez, Josep V Forment, Mark J O'Connor, Mark Albertella, Judith Balmaña, Violeta Serra | Alba Llop‐Guevara, Judith Balmaña, Violeta Serra | Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO), Spain | Genome Medicine | 48 | 10.1186/s13073-024-01370-z |
| 10 | The Fanconi anemia pathway induces chromothripsis and ecDNA-driven cancer drug resistance | Justin L Engel, Xiao Zhang, Mingming Wu, Yan Wang, Jose Espejo Valle-Inclán, Qing Hu, Kidist S Woldehawariat, Mathijs A Sanders, Agata Smogorzewska, Jin Chen, Isidro Cortés-Ciriano, Roger S Lo, Peter Ly | Peter Ly | University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, United States | Cell | 48 | 10.1016/j.cell.2024.08.001 |
| 11 | Targeting ATR in patients with cancer | Natalie Y L Ngoi, Patrick G Pilié, Daniel J McGrail, Michal Zimmermann, Katharina Schlacher, Timothy A Yap | Katharina Schlacher | The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, United States | Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology | 46 | 10.1038/s41571-024-00863-5 |
| 12 | Early oxidative stress and DNA damage in Aβ-burdened hippocampal neurons in an Alzheimer’s-like transgenic rat model | Morgan K Foret, Chiara Orciani, Lindsay A Welikovitch, Chunwei Huang, A Claudio Cuello, Sonia Do Carmo | A. Claudio Cuello, Sonia Do Carmo | McGill University, Canada | Communications Biology | 45 | 10.1038/s42003-024-06552-4 |
| 13 | Mechanism of BRCA1–BARD1 function in DNA end resection and DNA protection | Ilaria Ceppi, Maria Rosaria Dello Stritto, Martin Mütze, Stefan Braunshier, Valentina Mengoli, Giordano Reginato, Hồ Mỹ Phúc Võ, Sonia Jimeno, Ananya Acharya, Megha Roy, Aurore Sanchez, Swagata Halder, Sean Michael Howard, Raphaël Guérois, Pablo Huertas, Sylvie M Noordermeer, Ralf Seidel, Petr Cejka | Petr Ćejka | Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland | Nature | 43 | 10.1038/s41586-024-07909-9 |
| 14 | Endogenous aldehyde-induced DNA–protein crosslinks are resolved by transcription-coupled repair | Yasuyoshi Oka, Yuka Nakazawa, Mayuko Shimada, Tomoo Ogi | Tomoo Ogi | Nagoya University, Japan | Nature Cell Biology | 41 | 10.1038/s41556-024-01401-2 |
| 15 | DNA mismatch and damage patterns revealed by single-molecule sequencing | Mei Hong Liu, Benjamin M Costa, Emilia C Bianchini, Una Choi, Rachel C Bandler, Emilie Lassen, Marta Grońska-Pęski, Adam Schwing, Zachary R Murphy, Daniel Rosenkjær, Shany Picciotto, Vanessa Bianchi, Lucie Stengs, Melissa Edwards, Nuno Miguel Nunes, Caitlin A Loh, Tina K Truong, Randall E Brand, Tomi Pastinen, J Richard Wagner, Anne-Bine Skytte, Uri Tabori, Jonathan E Shoag, Gilad D Evrony | Gilad D. Evrony | New York University Grossman School of Medicine, United States | Nature | 41 | 10.1038/s41586-024-07532-8 |
| 16 | YBX1 promotes homologous recombination and resistance to platinum-induced stress in ovarian cancer by recognizing m5C modification | Huangyang Meng, Huixian Miao, Yashuang Zhang, Tian Chen, Lin Yuan, Yicong Wan, Yi Jiang, Lin Zhang, Wenjun Cheng | Lin Zhang, Wenjun Cheng | The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, China | Cancer Letters | 39 | 10.1016/j.canlet.2024.217064 |
| 17 | Structural basis for RNA polymerase II ubiquitylation and inactivation in transcription-coupled repair | Goran Kokic, George Yakoub, Diana van den Heuvel, Annelotte P Wondergem, Paula J van der Meer, Yana van der Weegen, Aleksandar Chernev, Isaac Fianu, Thornton J Fokkens, Sonja Lorenz, Henning Urlaub, Patrick Cramer, Martijn S Luijsterburg | Patrick Cramer, Martijn S. Luijsterburg | Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Germany | Nature Structural & Molecular Biology | 39 | 10.1038/s41594-023-01207-0 |
| 18 | A p62-dependent rheostat dictates micronuclei catastrophe and chromosome rearrangements | Sara Martin, Simone Scorzoni, Sara Cordone, Alice Mazzagatti, Galina V Beznoussenko, Amanda L Gunn, Melody Di Bona, Yonatan Eliezer, Gil Leor, Tal Ben-Yishay, Alessia Loffreda, Valeria Cancila, Maria Chiara Rainone, Marica Rosaria Ippolito, Valentino Martis, Fabio Bedin, Massimiliano Garrè, Laura Pontano Vaites, Paolo Vasapolli, Simona Polo, Dario Parazzoli, Claudio Tripodo, Alexander A Mironov, Alessandro Cuomo, Uri Ben-David, Samuel F Bakhoum, Emily M Hatch, Peter Ly, Stefano Santaguida | Stefano Santaguida | European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Italy | Science | 38 | 10.1126/science.adj7446 |
| 19 | Transcription-coupled repair of DNA–protein cross-links depends on CSA and CSB | Christopher J Carnie, Aleida C Acampora, Aldo S Bader, Chimeg Erdenebat, Shubo Zhao, Elnatan Bitensky, Diana van den Heuvel, Avital Parnas, Vipul Gupta, Giuseppina D'Alessandro, Matylda Sczaniecka-Clift, Pedro Weickert, Fatih Aygenli, Maximilian J Götz, Jacqueline Cordes, Isabel Esain-Garcia, Larry Melidis, Annelotte P Wondergem, Simon Lam, Maria S Robles, Shankar Balasubramanian, Sheera Adar, Martijn S Luijsterburg, Stephen P Jackson, Julian Stingele | Christopher J. Carnie, Stephen P. Jackson, Julian Stingele | Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, United Kingdom | Nature Cell Biology | 37 | 10.1038/s41556-024-01391-1 |
| 20 | Transcription-coupled DNA–protein crosslink repair by CSB and CRL4CSA-mediated degradation | Marjolein van Sluis, Qing Yu, Melanie van der Woude, Camila Gonzalo-Hansen, Shannon C Dealy, Roel C Janssens, Hedda B Somsen, Anisha R Ramadhin, Dick H W Dekkers, Hannah Lena Wienecke, Joris J P G Demmers, Anja Raams, Carlota Davó-Martínez, Diana A Llerena Schiffmacher, Marvin van Toorn, David Häckes, Karen L Thijssen, Di Zhou, Judith G Lammers, Alex Pines, Wim Vermeulen, Joris Pothof, Jeroen A A Demmers, Debbie L C van den Berg, Hannes Lans, Jurgen A Marteijn | Jurgen A. Marteijn | Erasmus University Medical Center, Netherlands | Nature Cell Biology | 37 | 10.1038/s41556-024-01394-y |

## Topic trends

### What Topics Define the Class of 2026?

The Class of 2026 highlights a significant focus on targeted therapies and complex DNA damage repair systems. Homologous recombination and DNA double-strand breaks remain prominent topics, reflecting ongoing efforts to map out intricate repair pathways and their implications for genomic stability. Additionally, the presence of PARP inhibitors indicates a continuing translational interest in exploiting repair deficiencies for cancer treatment, highlighting the bench-to-bedside evolution of DNA repair research.

*Leading research themes*

### How Did Topics Shift from the Class of 2025 to the Class of 2026?

A notable shift towards advanced therapeutic strategies and specialized cellular models is evident in the transition to the Class of 2026. Topics such as replication stress and synthetic lethality experienced substantial growth, underscoring a pivot towards exploiting vulnerabilities in cancer cell replication. The rise in patient-derived xenograft models and cryo-electron microscopy signifies a methodological leap toward personalized medicine and high-resolution structural analysis. Conversely, broad topics like general DNA damage response saw a relative decline, suggesting a maturation of the field toward more specific, actionable targets.

*How topics shifted year over year*

## Cite this ranking

```
Pepkio Research Index (PRI). Topics and Trends in Most Cited DNA Repair Mechanisms Papers, Class of 2026. https://pri.pepkio.com/top-papers/dna-repair-mechanisms/2026. Accessed 2026-07-21.

Zheng Su, Tinsley Li, Thematic Shifts in Early-High-Impact Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics Research: A Bibliometric and Semantic Analysis. bioRxiv 2026.07.04.736459; doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.07.04.736459
```