10-23-2008, 12:35 AM
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#12
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Okolona, Ky.
Posts: 2,778
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A genetic fix for lung cancer on the horizon?...
Scientists find 26 genes promoting lung cancer
Wed., Oct. 22, 2008 - Finding could lead to new treatments tailored to specific patients
Quote:
In the largest effort of its kind, scientists have identified 26 genes that, when damaged, appear to promote lung cancer. It's a step toward developing new treatments that can be tailored to specific patients. The federally-funded project was the largest ever to screen genes for mutations in the most common form of lung cancer, called adenocarcinoma. The results more than double the catalog of genes implicated in that condition.
The findings, from scientists at a dozen institutions in the United States and Germany, appear in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. Lung cancer is the leading cancer killer in the United States and worldwide. The study focused on tumors that originated in the lung and were surgically removed. But researchers also hope to study whether the same mutations appear in lung tumors that spread elsewhere.
The scientists sampled 188 tumors. They examined the makeup of 623 genes to look for those that were the most often mutated. The idea is that if a gene is mutated in so many tumors, it probably plays a role in the disease. The mutations clearly arose in the cancers because they did not appear in healthy tissue from the cancer patients.
The results suggest that some drugs already in use or being studied for other purposes may work in people whose tumors show certain mutations. More generally, by knowing what genes promote the development of lung cancer, scientists get targets for developing new therapies. The work also lays the foundation for future tailoring of therapy to the particular mutations found in a patient's tumor.
Scientists find 26 genes promoting lung cancer - Cancer - MSNBC.com
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See also:
Researchers find trigger for cell-killing protein
Wed., Oct. 22, 2008 - Discovery may lead to meds that could cause cancer cells to destroy selves
Quote:
U.S. researchers have found a way to switch on a cell-killing protein in the body, a finding that could lead to new ways to treat diseases like cancer in which cells grow out of control. The body naturally activates this protein, called BAX, to kill off unwanted or defective cells in a process of programed cell suicide called apoptosis. Researchers at Harvard's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute now think they have found a way to trigger this process.
"We identified a switch that turns BAX on, and we believe this discovery can be used to develop drugs that turn on or turn off cell death in human disease," said Dana-Farber's Dr. Loren Walensky, who reported his findings on Wednesday in the journal Nature. Walensky said his team was able to activate this switch by making a carefully shaped peptide -- a small chain of amino acids -- that fit perfectly into the trigger mechanism.
When this peptide attached correctly, the BAX protein started killing off cells by poking holes in the membranes of mitochondria, which make energy in cells. Walensky, who is co-founder of Aileron Therapeutics, a biotech company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, thinks this mechanism may be useful in drug development.
"Because BAX lies at the crossroads of the cell's decision to live or die, drugs that directly activate BAX could kill diseased cells like in cancer and BAX-blocking drugs could potentially prevent unwanted cell death, such as in heart attack, stroke, and neurodegeneration," Walensky said in a statement. Aileron is testing a cancer drug that targets this trigger and hopes to begin human trials within a year.
Researchers find trigger for cell-killing protein - Cancer - MSNBC.com
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Last edited by waltky; 10-23-2008 at 12:42 AM.
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