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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
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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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Tiny magnets offer breakthrough in gene therapy for cancer
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Breast cancer risk amplified by additional genes in combo with BRCA mutation
Many women with a faulty breast cancer gene could be at greater risk of the disease due to extra risk-amplifying genes, according to research published this month in the American Journal of Human Genetics.
New pathway provides more clues about BRCA1 role in breast cancer
A breast cancer gene's newly discovered role in repairing damaged DNA may help explain why women who inherit a mutated copy of the gene are at increased risk for developing both breast and ovarian cancer.
Jefferson Scientists See Breast Cancer Gene Activity from Outside the Body
Researchers at Jefferson Medical College and Jefferson's Kimmel Cancer in Philadelphia have used PET imaging to see hyperactive cancer genes inside breast tumors in laboratory animals, marking the first time such gene activity has been observed from outside the body.
Enhanced DNA-repair mechanism can cause breast cancer
Although defects in the "breast cancer gene," BRCA1, have been known for years to increase the risk for breast cancer, exactly how it can lead to tumor growth has remained a mystery.
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