s Breast Cancer Gene Linked to Disease Spread, Fatality
March 02, 2009
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After 3 years of work, a team of researchers has identified a gene that gets switched on in 30% to 40% of all
breast cancer
patients, according to a recently published study from scientists at Princeton University and The Cancer Institute of New Jersey.
The gene, called “Metahedrin” or MTDH, is responsible for spreading the disease, resisting traditional chemotherapies, and eventually leading to death.
“In short, I think the most immediate impact of this study is the potential development of a diagnostic test to help identify high risk breast cancer patients, so that they can be treated more aggressively and followed up more closely,” says lead researcher Yibin Kang, PhD, an assistant professor of molecular biology at Princeton.
The gene aids in metastasis by helping tumor cells stick tightly to blood vessels in distant organs and making tumors more resistant to chemotherapeutic agents (Hu G et al.
Cancer Cell. 2009;15[1]:9-20).
“Inhibiting this gene in breast cancer patients will simultaneously achieve 2 important goals—reduce the chance of recurrence and, at the same time, decrease the risk of metastatic dissemination,” says Kang. “Clinically, these are the 2 major reasons why breast cancer patients die from the disease.”
The discovery not only identifies the gene, but also boosts understanding of the ways the gene is expressed.
“Not only has a new metastasis gene been identified, but this also is one of a few such genes for which the exact mode of action has been elucidated,” says Michael Reiss, co-author and director of the Breast Cancer Research Program at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey. “That gives us a real shot at developing a drug that will inhibit metastasis.”
The team also found that MTDH may be involved in the progression of other types of cancers, including
prostate cancer.
From the March 2009 Issue of ONN