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Dual functions of gene revealed, for better and for worse
May 27, 2008Researchers at WEHI have pinpointed the function of a potent cancer gene.
The gene, known as "ERG", has long been associated with a range of human malignancies, including leukemia and sarcoma. American scientists showed in 2005 that ERG is mutated in more than half of all prostate cancers.
It was unclear, however, what function ERG normally performs in the human body and why it is so carcinogenic when mutated.
The team at WEHI has now demonstrated that ERG's usual role is to regulate the activity of blood stem cells. Without ERG, these cells cannot divide normally and the body fails to generate the trillions of blood cells that required each day to carry oxygen and fight infection.
The study suggests that ERG causes cancer by convincing normal cells to behave like stem cells, triggering unrestrained growth and expansion.
The findings offer hope that the targets of ERG might now be open to identification, which in the future might lead to new drugs that shut down the proliferation of cancer cells.
Research Australia
The team at WEHI has now demonstrated that ERG's usual role is to regulate the activity of blood stem cells. Without ERG, these cells cannot divide normally and the body fails to generate the trillions of blood cells that required each day to carry oxygen and fight infection.
The study suggests that ERG causes cancer by convincing normal cells to behave like stem cells, triggering unrestrained growth and expansion.
The findings offer hope that the targets of ERG might now be open to identification, which in the future might lead to new drugs that shut down the proliferation of cancer cells.
Research Australia
Cancer Gene Current Events and Cancer Gene News RSSNew cancer gene discovered
A new cancer gene has been discovered by a research group at the Sahlgrenska Academy. The gene causes an insidious form of glandular cancer usually in the head and neck and in women also in the breast. The discovery could lead to quicker and better diagnosis and more effective treatment.
Newly Discovered Gene Fusion May Lead to Improved Prostate Cancer Diagnosis
Researchers from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center have discovered a new gene fusion that is highly expressed in a subset of prostate cancers.
Wet ear wax and unpleasant body odors signal breast cancer risk
If having malodorous armpits (called osmidrosis) and goopy earwax isn't bad enough, a discovery by Japanese scientists may add a more serious problem for women facing these cosmetic calamities.
Gene signature helps predict breast cancer prognosis
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center researchers have uncovered a gene signature that may help predict clinical outcomes in certain types of breast cancer.
Reversing effects of altered enzyme may fight brain tumor growth
An international team of scientists from the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, the University of North Carolina and several institutions in China have explained how a gene alteration can lead to the development of a type of brain cancer, and they have identified a compound that could staunch the cancer's growth.
Breakthrough model for human cancer may improve development of cancer drugs; study in PNAS
AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company leveraging breakthrough discoveries in cancer biology to discover, develop and commercialize targeted oncology therapies, today announced findings from its novel human-in-mouse (HIM) cancer model system, in which AVEO successfully created invasive human tumors from primary human breast tissue that develop over time in mice and mimic human tumor behaviors and response.
Getting down to cancer basics
Researchers have identified a new cancer gene - one that is common to many cancers and affects the most basic regulation of our genes. The new example - a gene on the X chromosome called UTX - is found in 10% of cases of multiple myeloma and 8% of esophageal cancers.
Science teams at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory identify 13 new tumor-suppressor genes in liver cancer
Over the years, hunting for cancer-related genes and understanding how they work has been an important, although time-consuming, exercise. At Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), five different research groups have now combined their expertise to speed up the rate of discovering cancer-related genes and validating their function in living animals.
Fish cancer gene linked to pigment pattern that attracts mates
Though skin cancer is deadly to male fish, it also has one perk: The black melanoma splotches arise from attractive natural markings that lure female mates. A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week shows that the melanoma gene can be conserved in swordtail fish because of its beneficial role in sexual selection.
Cancer signatures uncovered
A new systematic analysis of the relationship between the neoplastic and developmental transcriptome provides an outline of trends in cancer gene expression.
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SciEd In Search of the Cancer Gene; For 6 Gels (5 lanes each) with InstaStain Methylene Blue by Edvotek Classroom Kit, In Search of the Cancer Gene; Edvotek; For 6 Gels (5 lanes each) with InstaStain Methylene Blue | |
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