WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An overactive gene that has been linked to testicular cancer could one day be monitored in men who are at risk and reprogrammed so it is kept under control, researchers said on Wednesday.

Scientists at Duke University found that a gene, called hiwi, was up to 16 times more active in men with testicular cancer than in healthy patients.

Finding the gene, the first to be directly associated with testicular cancer, could allow researchers to watch for the disease and to help stop tumors from growing.

"We still have a way to go before we completely understand the major cause of this type of cancer," Haifan Lin, who led the study, said in a telephone interview.

"But there also is the potential for long-term therapeutic applications in that hopefully some cancers can be cured by reducing the activity of this gene," he said.

The American Cancer Society estimated that more than 7,500 males will be diagnosed this year with testicular cancer and about 400 will die from it.

Testicular cancer is the most common form of cancer among white men between the ages of 15 and 45, the agency said.

Still, the American Cancer Society said 95% of those who get this type of cancer will live more than five years, up from 79% in the mid-1970s. Survivors of the disease include star cyclist Lance Armstrong, who was diagnosed in 1996.

Lin and his colleagues studied tissue samples from 35 males who had developed testicular cancer. In one form of the cancer, they found that 12 of the 19 patients, or about 63% of the group, expressed unusually high levels of the hiwi gene.

Several other genes have been associated with testicular cancer, but only at levels of 10% or lower, Lin said.

The results will be published in the June issue of the journal Oncogene.

SIMILAR GENE FOUND IN MICE, FRUIT FLIES

Testicular tumors occur in reproductive stem cells where levels of the hiwi gene are high. The cells continue to rapidly divide, leading to one form of the cancer known as seminoma.

A second type is called nonseminoma, a more aggressive type of the cancer that can quickly spread to the body's lymph nodes. These tumors do not express abnormal levels of the hiwi gene.

Earlier research by Lin and his group focused largely on discovering a similar genetic mechanism in fruit flies. The same type of gene also has been found in mice, and in all cases ranging from insects to humans, an overactive form of the gene has been tied to greater rates of cancer in the reproductive organs.

"Our search was directed by that guide of reasoning," Lin said. "This is the first time we really have the evidence that this family of genes do have very important roles in human reproductive stem cell development."

Even though the hiwi gene is the first to be directly associated with testicular cancer, Lin is optimistic that other genes could be discovered that play a role in the disease.

Some researchers believe chromosome X and chromosome 19 could offer the best chances to pinpoint further genes associated with the cancer.

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