Researchers have identified a new role for a cancer-prevention gene in the response to drug treatment for childhood cancer.
In humans, the p53 tumour suppressor gene, also known as the ‘guardian of the genome’, is known for its role in the prevention of cancer. Mutations in the gene are associated with a high incidence of cancer due to the uncontrolled division of cells which give rise to tumours.
In childhood cancers such as neuroblastoma, p53 mutations are rare at diagnosis, however they can emerge after chemotherapy.
A recent study published in the international journal Cancer Research this month by researchers from the Children’s Cancer Institute Australia for Medical Research (CCIA), and collaborators in the USA, describes a new role for p53 in childhood cancer.
The group showed that by inactivating p53 in neuroblastoma cells, the most common childhood cancer, the cancer cells became resistant to a number of chemotherapy drugs.
“Our results provide definitive evidence of a role for p53 as a gene which dictates drug sensitivity in neuroblastoma,” said Dr Xue of CCIA’s Molecular Diagnostics Program.
Source: Research Australia
Related stories:
Evidence now suggests eating soy foods in puberty protects against breast cancer
Evidence is growing from animal and human studies that genistein, a potent chemical found in soy, protects against development of breast cancer - but only if consumed during puberty, says a Georgetown University Medical Center researcher in the British Journal of Cancer published online today. The challenge now, she says, is for scientists to understand precisely why soy appears to provide a shield against the most common cancer in women.
Repair of DNA by Brca2 gene prevents medulloblastoma
Investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have gained some of the first major insights into how certain genes known to prevent cancer also guide the normal development of the nervous system before birth and during infancy by repairing DNA damage.
'Color My Pyramid' nutrition education program battles obesity in DC schools
An online game might be the secret weapon for winning the war against childhood obesity. Researchers at George Mason University have designed and tested a nutrition education program called "Color My Pyramid" to teach students how to evaluate their dietary intake and activity level. The program incorporates the Department of Agriculture's
MyPyramid.gov for Kids Blast-Off Game, an interactive computer game that allows kids to win by fueling their rocket with nutritious foods and a healthy level of physical activity.
Cells that Avoid Suicide May Become Cancerous
(PhysOrg.com) -- When a cell's chromosomes lose their ends, the cell usually kills itself to stem the genetic damage. But University of Utah biologists discovered how those cells can evade suicide and start down the path to cancer.
Bladder cancer detected via amplified gene in cells found in urine
Counting the copies of a specific gene in cells gathered from a urine sample may provide a simple, noninvasive way to detect bladder cancer, a team led by researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports in the
Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Scientists deliver toxic genes to effectively kill pancreatic cancer cells
A research team, led by investigators at the Department of Surgery at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson, has achieved a substantial "kill" of pancreatic cancer cells by using nanoparticles to successfully deliver a deadly diphtheria toxin gene. The findings – set to be published in the October issue of
Cancer Biology & Therapy – reflect the first time this unique strategy has been tested in pancreatic cancer cells, and the success seen offers promise for future pre-clinical animal studies, and possibly, a new clinical approach.
A new therapeutic option for human hepatocyte cancer
p53-impaired tumors may be particularly suitable to parvovirus H-1-induced therapy. Although the p53 deficiency in tumors may induce resistance to chemotherapeutic agents, this will not affect the tumor cell susceptibility to H-1 PV-induced oncolytic infections. The parvovirus H-1 may also overcome other tumor resistance mechanisms developed in these tumor entities. So H-1 PV is a suitable agent to circumvent the resistance of p53-negative human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells to genotoxic agents, and enhances the apoptotic process which is dependent on functional PML. Thus, H-1 PV may be considered as therapeutic options for HCC, especially for p53-negative tumors.
Scientists discover cancer-causing role of gene proteins
Dr. Tak Mak and scientists at The Campbell Family Institute for Breast Cancer Research at Princess Margaret Hospital have discovered the role of two "cousins" in the genetic family tree of cancer development.