( imately cancer. This potentially devas...)New Technique Identifies Unknown Genetic Mutations That Can Cause Cancer,Health

imately, cancer. This potentially devastating kinase activation carries a calling card in the form of a molecule called a phosphate.

"The phosphates signal activated tyrosine kinases," said Druker. "So we decided to use the phosphates as markers."

To find these markers, the team took myeloid leukemia cells and chemically digested them into a mixture of protein snippets called peptides. Next, they extracted all of the peptides carrying extra phosphates and sent them through a mass spectrometer, which precisely measured the weight of each peptide. Sophisticated software then sifted through a massive protein database at the National Library of Medicine, identifying each of the team's peptides as a segment of a specific protein. The analysis showed that many of the peptides came from tyrosine kinases. Scanning this list, Druker picked out five as likely suspects.

Druker's team then introduced into their leukemia cells five segments of RNA that each shut down one of the candidate kinases. Silencing four of the kinases with RNA did nothing – the cells still grew out of control. But with the fifth, the cells no longer became cancerous.

"That left one gene to sequence. We found that the gene, called JAK3, had a mutation that drives the growth of leukemia cells in mice," said Druker. Analysis of additional patient samples later identified two more mutations in the JAK3 gene.

Thomas Mercher, a postdoctoral fellow in Gilliland's lab, then tested the mutation in a mouse model. "It was important to show that the JAK3 mutation, when introduced in mice, would lead to a leukemia-like illness. It did, confirming that the JAK3 mutations play a central role in leukemia," said Gilliland.

While Druker said that only a small proportion of AML patients likely carry JAK3 mutations, he says the technique will help find other cancer-causing mutations. The process is highly technical, but it cuts the time needed to find a
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