U.S. medical researchers say they've discovered a new cancer-promoting role for a gene potentially linked with breast, liver and other kinds of cancer.
The scientists at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital say their discovery that the gene YAP can transform mammary epithelial cells opens the door to understanding how a novel cell growth controlling pathway first discovered in fruit flies might be important in human cancers.
"We screened the DNA from breast cancer cells for amplifications that are associated with tumor development," said senior author Dr. Daniel Haber, a professor of medicine and director of the MGH Cancer Center. "The identification of these new potential cancer-causing genes is critical to uncovering novel pathways that drive the conversion of a normal cell to a cancerous one.
The research was conducted jointly by Haber and Joan Brugge, a biology professor at HMS.
The findings appear in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and will appear in the Aug. 15 print edition.
Copyright 2006 by United Press International
Related stories:
Circulating tumor cells can reveal genetic signature of dangerous lung cancers
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators have shown that an MGH-developed, microchip-based device that detects and analyzes tumor cells in the bloodstream can be used to determine the genetic signature of lung tumors, allowing identification of those appropriate for targeted treatment and monitoring genetic changes that occur during therapy. A pilot study of the device called the CTC-chip will appear in the July 24
New England Journal of Medicine and is receiving early online release.
Microchip-based device can detect rare tumor cells in bloodstream
A team of investigators from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Biomicroelectromechanical Systems (BioMEMS) Resource Center and the MGH Cancer Center has developed a microchip-based device that can isolate, enumerate and analyze circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from a blood sample. CTCs are viable cells from solid tumors carried in the bloodstream at a level of one in a billion cell. Because of their rarity and fragility, it has not been possible to get information from CTCs that could help clinical decision-making, but the new device – called the “CTC-chip,”– has the potential to be an invaluable tool for monitoring and guiding cancer treatment.
Gene's cancer role is identified
U.S. medical researchers say they've discovered a new cancer-promoting role for a gene potentially linked with breast, liver and other kinds of cancer.
Landmark study unlocks stem cell, DNA secrets to speed therapies
In a groundbreaking study led by an eminent molecular biologist at Florida State University, researchers have discovered that as embryonic stem cells turn into different cell types, there are dramatic corresponding changes to the order in which DNA is replicated and reorganized.
A link between mitochondria and tumor formation in stem cells
Researchers report on a previously unknown relationship between stem cell potency and the metabolic rate of their mitochondria –a cell's energy makers. Stem cells with more active mitochondria also have a greater capacity to differentiate and are more likely to form tumors.
Researcher eliminates viral vector in stem cell reprogramming
Shinya Yamanaka MD, PhD, of Kyoto University and the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease (GICD) has taken another step forward in improving the possibilities for the practical application of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell technology.
On the trail of a targeted therapy for blood cancers
Investigators from the Herman B Wells Center for Pediatric Research at the Indiana University School of Medicine are focusing on a family of blood proteins that they hope holds a key to decreasing the toxic effects of chemotherapy in children and adults.
Small intestine can sense and react to bitter toxins in food
Toxins in food often have a bad, bitter taste that makes people want to spit them out. New UC Irvine research finds that bitterness also slows the digestive process, keeping bad food in the stomach longer and increasing the chances that it will be expelled.