Oncogene in Biological News

Cancer-causing gene discovery suggests new therapies

... on the paper with Barna. "The ability of the Myc oncogene to directly alter this process may well explain ... in DNA activity in the cell nucleus. But how the oncogene affected the subsequent production of proteins, a ... that was cancer-prone and overexpressed the Myc oncogene and one that was newly engineered to lower ...

CSHL team develops mouse models of leukemia that predict response to chemotherapy

... identified by Lowe's team in AML patients have been well studied. The oncogene AML1/ETO previously has been associated with a favorable therapeutic ... correct. Just as in humans, leukemias in mice that received the AML1/ETO oncogene were also sensitive to chemotherapy and soon regressed, whereas ...

Tracking the molecular pathway to mixed-lineage leukemia

... When the MLL gene is fused to the AF4 gene, a potent cancer-causing oncogene is created. Although researchers have known that the MLL-AF4 protein ... causes leukemia, they had not been able to determine precisely how this oncogene disrupted cells' normal protein production. To pinpoint the ...

Biomarkers allow doctors to match therapy to patient

... production of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC1), a gene driven by the MYCN oncogene that is a powerful predictor of death from this disease. Researchers ... with chemotherapeutic drugs alone, suggesting that targeting this oncogene for suppression is a potentially valuable therapeutic approach. We ...

Epigenetic regulation by the MMB/dREAM complex

... University) and colleagues demonstrate that proteins encoded by the Myb oncogene and the RB tumor suppressor gene function together in the Drosophila ... progression. Drosophila MMB/dREAM includes proteins encoded by the Myb oncogene and the RB and Mip130/Lin-9 tumor suppressor genes, as well as the E2F2 ...

Protein identified as critical to insulating the body's wiring could also become treatment target

... and Charcot-Marie-Tooth neuropathy, a genetic, progressive disease that weakens muscles. Cancer is an issue because the ErbB2 receptor also is an oncogene highly expressed in tumors. ErbB2 helps cancer cells grow and spread so finding its role in the receptor's stability and function provides a ...

Skin cancer study uncovers new tumor suppressor gene

... to slow -- and in some cases even sped up -- tumor growth. Now, it turns out that one of the most often mutated MMP genes in melanoma is not an oncogene at all. In its study, the team led by researchers from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) found that MMP-8 actually serves as a ...

Small molecules block cancer gene

... HOUSTON (March 10, 2009) Finding molecules that block the activity of the oncogene Stat 3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription) required screening literally millions of compounds, using computers that compared the ...

NYU Langone Medical Center researchers find micro RNA plays a key role in melanoma metastasis

... a miRNA is over-expressed in metastatic melanoma cell lines and tissues. The lab found that the elevated expression of miRNA 182 turns it into an oncogene (a gene involved in cancer tumor initiation or progression), by increasing the invasive capacity of melanoma cells in vitro and stimulating the ...

Festschrift Issue honoring Judah Folkman, M.D. in Lymphatic Research and Biology

... Lymphangiogenesis?," Yihai Cao explains the processes behind increased lymphatic supply to cancerous lesions. Dean Felsher explores the phenomena of oncogene addiction, cellular senescence, and the angiogenic switch in a report entitled, "Reversing Cancer From Inside and Out." In a forward-looking review, ...

Yamanaka eliminates viral vector in stem cell reprogramming

... cell technology. Previously, Dr. Yamanaka had shown that adult cells can be reprogrammed to become embryonic stem celllike using a cancer-causing oncogene as one of the four genes required to reprogram the cells, and a virus to transfer the genes into the cells. In the last year, Dr. Yamanaka and other ...

U-M study: Herceptin targets breast cancer stem cells

... used to treat HER2-positive breast cancer, was found to target and destroy the cancer stem cells. Results of the study appear online in the journal oncogene . "This work suggests that the reason drugs that target HER2, such as Herceptin and Lapatanib, are so effective in breast cancer is that they ...

Estrogen helps drive distinct, aggressive form of prostate cancer

... in the journal Science in 2005. "The discovery showed that these malignancies occur after an androgen (male hormone)-dependent gene fuses with an oncogene -- a type of gene that causes cancer," he explains. Experts have long understood that male hormones help spur prostate cancer -- in fact, ...

Yale scientists show that a microRNA can reduce lung cancer growth

... develop, grow and age. They went on to show that in humans, let-7 negatively regulates a well-known determinant of human lung cancers, the RAS oncogene . In collaboration with scientists at Asuragen, the Slack lab has studied the tumor suppressor activity of this small RNA. Their work ...

Gene dose affects tumor growth

... types of cancer, based on what happens in Down syndrome, says Reeves. Our findings are significant because they broaden the definition of an oncogene or tumor suppressor gene to include the effect of gene dosage, says Michael Ostrowski, an Ohio State cancer researcher and Ets2 expert who developed ...

'Jumping genes' could make for safer gene delivery system

... only on a short-term basis. The catch is that viruses can be infectious and some types of viruses occasionally land in a target genome near an oncogene and raise the risk of cancer. Plasmids don't carry that risk, but they are not nearly as efficient at reproducing in cells, which is important when ...

Cells united against cancer

... cells missing the LKB1 protein are able to form only cancer-like disorganized epithelial structures. This disorganized environment enables c-Myc oncogene to drive inappropriate cell proliferation. The study demonstrates that organized epithelial structure can suppress malignant actions of cancer ...

JCI table of contents: Aug. 16, 2007

... authors therefore suggest that enhancing NKT cell localization to the tumor should be considered when designing new cancer therapeutics. TITLE: oncogene MYCN regulates localization of NKT cells to the site of disease in neuroblastoma AUTHOR CONTACT: Leonid S. Metelitsa Childrens Hospital Los ...

Tumor cells that border normal tissue are told to leave

... generated by turning off an inhibitor of a major oncogene called Src (pronounced sarc), making the tumor cells high in Src oncogene activity. (An oncogene is a gene that increases the malignancy of a ...

Most common lung cancers may begin in newly discovered cells

... The mouse carries a silent genetic mutation of an oncogene known as K-ras, which is found in about one-third ... a small amount of virus that activates the K-ras oncogene in some of the lung cells. Four years ago, ... of the mutant mouse lung cells, the activated oncogene only triggered growth of the BASCs, not of the ...

Pair of microRNA molecules controls major oncogene in most common leukemia

... have discovered that two microRNA (miRNA) molecules help control the oncogene responsible for a dangerous form of B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia ... miRNAs known as miR-29 and miR-181 seem to suppress expression of the TCL1 oncogene that drives the most aggressive forms of the leukemia, said the study’s ...

Scientists uncover rules for gene amplification

... yeast can be extended to higher eukaryotes then we can propose that if the oncogene is located between the hairpin-capped break and the telomere, then the ... event will result in a double minute. If the break occurs between the oncogene and the telomere, then the amplification would yield a ...

Important discovery about second most fatal cancer

... of colon # Little evidence of tumour immunity # Frequent mutation of an oncogene called BRAF (also mutated in cancer of thyroid, ovary, and melanoma) # ... therefore been ignored up to now. These polyps also show mutation of the oncogene BRAF and DNA methylation. It is likely that the same polyps may sometimes ...

Blood test may help signal tumor's remission, return in throat cancer patients

... in head and neck cancer patients. These include two cytokines known as Interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8, and three growth factors known as growth-related oncogene (GRO)-1, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF). These cytokines and growth factors play an important role in ...

Genetic pathways to curable and incurable forms of pancreatic cancer identified

... early detection biomarkers and possible treatments to halt the progression of the disease. The work involved activating the pancreatic cancer oncogene called Kras and then selectively mutating tumor-suppressor genes such as p53, p16 and Dpc4 in different combinations. In the mouse model, which ...

Genes and biomarkers that allow doctors to choose the right therapy for the right patient

... is a predictive factor of response and progression free survival in patients treated with Cetuximab: Abstract 5671 Mutations in the KRAS oncogene could predict a lack of response to the drug cetuximab in patients with colorectal tumors. For those with the mutations, the drug is likely to be ...

Small molecule dervived from Rb2/p130 could act as cancer therapeutic

... spacer domain leads to inhibition of cdk2 activity, cell cycle arrest and tumor growth reduction in vivo," in the March 22 issue of the journal oncogene ( http://www.nature.com/onc ). Rb2/p130 was discovered in the early 1990s by Antonio Giordano, director of the Sbarro Institute ( ...

Scientists uncover new target in cancer mutation puzzle

... And in this study we've shown for the first time that this idea might work." Land was among the scientists in the mid-1980s who first discovered oncogene collaboration. Since then, his work has focused on the complex interplay necessary for malignancy. And while other researchers, for example, are ...

Why don't all moles progress to melanoma?

... but few have melanoma." In the study, U-M scientists found that the tumor suppressive response in melanocytes varied depending on the type of oncogene being expressed in the cell. "We found that some oncogenes activated the endoplasmic reticulum, while other oncogenes didn't," Soengas says. ...

Study uncovers mutation responsible for Noonan Syndrome

... previous work had identified mutations in the PTPN11 gene as the cause of Noonan syndrome in nearly 50 percent of cases [and mutations in an oncogene known as KRAS in a small subset of severe cases] the identity of the gene or genes responsible for fully half the cases had not been elucidated," ...

Loosen up, DNA: Leukemia gene changes genetic packaging

... thus seems unique because it can both cause cancer directly, or knock out genetic mechanisms that suppress cancer. "A molecule that is both an oncogene and that also antagonizes a tumor suppressor mechanism is pretty powerful," Li said. "Most genes involved in cancer do one or the other, not both." ...

New cellular flaw found in some virulent breast cancers

... issue of Cancer Cell, a team led by Qunyan Yu, MD, and Peter Sicinski, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber report that the interaction of a certain mutated oncogene and the newly described growth control flaw is seen in about 10 percent of breast cancers ?and the deadliest ones. The cancer results from a ...

Researchers discover new form of cancer gene regulation

... Wisconsin has shown that the Quaking gene likely suppresses tumor growth by inhibiting production of a protein associated with GLI1, a cancer-causing oncogene highly associated with severe birth defects and several childhood cancers. The group's study, published in the Nov. 1 online issue of ...

Researchers use RNAi libraries to identify regulators of apoptosis and chemoresistance

... None of these mutant genes, when introduced individually or in combination, led to cancerous growth. But when a mutant form of Ras--produced by an oncogene that sends growth signals to a cell--was added to this combination, it produced clinical features of invasive human melanoma: darkly pigmented skin ...

Ibruprofen and other commonly used painkillers for treating inflammation may increase the risk of heart attack

... None of these mutant genes, when introduced individually or in combination, led to cancerous growth. But when a mutant form of Ras--produced by an oncogene that sends growth signals to a cell--was added to this combination, it produced clinical features of invasive human melanoma: darkly pigmented skin ...

Engineered skin offers clues to melanoma development

... None of these mutant genes, when introduced individually or in combination, led to cancerous growth. But when a mutant form of Ras--produced by an oncogene that sends growth signals to a cell--was added to this combination, it produced clinical features of invasive human melanoma: darkly pigmented skin ...

Novel gene-silencing nanoparticles shown to inhibit Ewing's sarcoma

... Ewing's sarcoma results when two chromosomes break and trade their genetic content in what's technically called a "translocation," activating the oncogene EWS-FLI1 which triggers the tumor growth characteristic for this cancer. In their experiment, siRNA was delivered to this growth-promoting region ...

U-M scientists find genes that control growth of common skin cancer

... and lead author on the paper. This is different from many other genetic mouse models of cancer, in which tumor regression following inhibition of an oncogene is frequently followed by the emergence of malignancies that have activated alternative cancer-causing pathways. According to Hutchin, the fact that ...

Yale Scientists Find MicroRNA Regulates Ras Cancer Gene

... presenting new possibilities for diagnosis and treatment. The work is reported in March issues of the journals Cell and Developmental Cell. The oncogene Ras is out of control in about 20 percent of cancers where it is over-expressed or activated by mutation. According to Slack, a member of the Yale ...