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Two
Genes Hold Cancer Prevention Clues
LONDON
(Reuters) - Two genes could be the key to understanding how to
protect the body from developing cancer, an American scientist
said Tuesday.
Dr. Carl Anderson
of the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York told a medical
conference in Glasgow, Scotland, that the genes DNA-PK and p53
are essential components of the body's repair system.
``The human
genome is like a great castle. In healthy cells the castle stands
strong but as cancer develops it quickly crumbles. DNA-PK and
p53 are the crucial cornerstones that hold the castle up,'' he
said in a statement released in London.
``When they
are intact we are safe, but when either goes wrong the castle
starts to collapse,'' he noted.
Cancer develops
when something goes amiss in a normal cell and instead of self-destructing
in a process called apoptosis, it divides and multiplies uncontrollably.
Anderson discovered
DNA-PK 18 years ago while working at Cambridge University. In
laboratory tests and by studying the sequence of the human genome,
or genetic code, published earlier this year, he found that in
many cancers there was something wrong with DNA-PK, which normally
repairs damaged genes.
Cancerous
cells can also harness DNA-PK's power to repair damage caused
by anti-cancer treatments, making the cells resistant to the therapy.
``By understanding
how DNA-PK and related enzymes work at the molecular level, we
and others are learning more about how cancers arise and how they
respond to radiotherapy,'' said Professor Steve Jackson of Britain's
Cancer Research Campaign, Anderson's collaborator.
P53 acts as
a signaling system, sending out messages that put a brake on cancer
by stopping damaged cells from dividing and forming tumors. The
gene, discovered by Scottish scientist David Lane, is altered
in about 80% of cancers.
Understanding
the mechanisms of both genes and their role in cancers could be
the key to devising new ways to treat and prevent the disease,
Jackson and Anderson said.
They presented
their research at the 4-day Genomic Regulation and Cancer Conference
in Glasgow.
Reference
Source 89
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