# MRE11

Source: https://onco.cc/targets/mre11/  
OnCo record `mre11` (Target). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

MRE11 (Double-strand break repair protein MRE11) is an enzyme. The public catalogues list it as a drug target, a biomarker and a DNA repair gene, and clinical evidence ties its variants to diagnosis, prognosis or drug response. Tied to Prostate cancer, Endometrial cancer, Breast cancer and 1 more.

## Summary

Core component of the MRN complex, which plays a central role in double-strand break (DSB) repair, DNA recombination, maintenance of telomere integrity and meiosis. The MRN complex is involved in the repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) via homologous recombination (HR), an error-free mechanism which primarily occurs during S and G2 phases. The complex (1) mediates the end resection of damaged DNA, which generates proper single-stranded DNA, a key initial steps in HR, and is (2) required for the recruitment of other repair factors and efficient activation of ATM and ATR upon DNA damage.

CIViC holds 2 clinical evidence items and 0 assertions across 2 variants, naming Olaparib and Talazoparib. Open Targets scores its association with cancer at 0.67 (direct and indirect evidence; datatypes literature 0.96, affected pathway 0.87, genetic association 0.87, genetic literature 0.01).

## Fields

- Kind: Target
- Last checked: 2026-09-23
- Also known as: MRE11 double strand break repair nuclease; Double-strand break repair protein MRE11; MRE11A
- Tags: cancer-genes-wave
- Symbol: MRE11
- Class: enzyme
- Biology: Core component of the MRN complex, which plays a central role in double-strand break (DSB) repair, DNA recombination, maintenance of telomere integrity and meiosis. The MRN complex is involved in the repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) via homologous recombination (HR), an error-free mechanism which primarily occurs during S and G2 phases. The complex (1) mediates the end resection of damaged DNA, which generates proper single-stranded DNA, a key initial steps in HR, and is (2) required for the recruitment of other repair factors and efficient activation of ATM and ATR upon DNA damage. Within the MRN complex, MRE11 possesses both single-strand endonuclease activity and double-strand-specific 3'-5' exonuclease activity. After DSBs, MRE11 is loaded onto DSBs sites and cleaves DNA by cooperating with RBBP8/CtIP to initiate end resection. MRE11 first endonucleolytically cleaves the 5' strand at DNA DSB ends to prevent non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) and licence HR. Location: Nucleus; Chromosome; Chromosome, telomere (UniProt). Locus 11q21 (HGNC).
- Where found: Prostate cancer: CIViC evidence names this disease; Endometrial cancer: CIViC evidence names this disease; Breast cancer: Open Targets association 0.54 with breast cancer (MONDO_0007254); Ovarian cancer: Open Targets association 0.53 with ovarian cancer (MONDO_0008170)

## Notes

- Written by scripts/fetch-cancer-genes.ts from CIViC, Open Targets, IntOGen, HGNC and UniProt; the function text is UniProt's, condensed and in UK spelling. Roles: CIViC lists 2 therapies; CIViC holds 2 clinical evidence items on its variants; UniProt keyword "DNA repair". Evidence tier "clinical-evidence" is the strongest of those signals.
- Prevalence not recorded: none of the sources gives a positivity rate.

## Sources

- HGNC HGNC:7230: https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:7230
- UniProt P49959: https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P49959/entry
- NCBI Gene 4361: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/4361
- Ensembl ENSG00000020922: https://www.ensembl.org/Homo_sapiens/Gene/Summary?g=ENSG00000020922

## Connected records

- collections: [CIViC](https://onco.cc/collections/civic/), [Open Targets Platform](https://onco.cc/collections/open-targets/)
- cancers: [Breast cancer (all types)](https://onco.cc/cancers/breast-cancer/), [Endometrial cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/endometrial/), [Ovarian cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/ovarian/), [Prostate cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/prostate/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/mre11.json