DNA repair is essential as DNA can be damaged through various means such as reactive chemicals, radiation, and errors in replication. Excision repair pathways like base excision repair and nucleotide excision repair remove damaged bases using the undamaged strand as a template. Double strand break repair is more complex as there is no intact template; homologous recombination is very accurate but more complex while non-homologous end joining is faster but error-prone. Defects in double strand break repair contribute to cancer development, offering possibilities for targeted therapies.