Cold Spring Harbor science teams identify 13 new tumor-suppressor genes in li...(ation and an shRNA were injected into mi...),Health
ation and an shRNA were injected into mice. Dramatically, those that received cells in which a tumor suppressor gene had been "silenced" by an shRNA developed tumors within a month.
The scientists homed in on the identity of the silenced tumor suppressors by simply isolating and analyzing the genetic material from the tumors. Their strategy identified 13 new tumor suppressor genes, most of which had not been linked to cancer before.
A rich and unexpected payoff
"The nature of these new genes is not obvious and we wouldn't have guessed their relationship to cancer if we hadn't followed this approach," says Lowe. "They may now allow us to make headway into poorly understood areas of cancer."
The newly identified tumor suppressor genes affect a wide array of cellular activities, including maintenance of cell structure, cellular metabolism, cell proliferation and control of the levels of various tumor growth-enhancing proteins in the cell's nucleus. In one instance, the team's strategy also uncovered not genes in isolation but an entire network of genes that go awry in liver cancer. "Given that the cancer puzzle involves multiple genes in various combinations, we need to find all the hits that make the cell tip over the edge," says Lowe, explaining one advantage of his team's broad strategy.
Some of the genes identified might also lead to new strategies for cancer therapy. For example, some of the newly discovered tumor suppressor genes "code" for proteins that are secreted, which indicates that their ability to prevent cancer is dependent on their presence outside the cell. Reversing the loss of such proteins by replenishing their levels via injections is an easier fix than having to correct a defect in the genome via gene therapy.
In other words, the CSHL team's new strategy now makes it possible to rapidly filter from genomic information those genes that specifically impact cancer development in living anim
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| Contact: Hema Bashyam bashyam@cshl.edu 516-367-6822 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Source:Eurekalert |
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