Hi All

[Liz J.]

Dear Her2 family,

First off, Happy Memorial Day to all. I obviously have not written in quite some time. Lots of stuff going on, but I do check in to keep up with everyone and my thoughts and prayers are with all. I am going to attach an article that my sister sent to me. We had a brother Jimmy who had Down syndrome. He passed away in 1990 at age 47. Thought some of you may find this article interesting.

Down Syndrome Yields Key Cancer Clue

Genes Overproduced in Down Syndrome Can Slow Tumor Growth
By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD



May 20, 2009 -- People with Down syndrome hold the key to a new generation of cancer drugs, researchers say.
Solid tumors are very rare in people with Down syndrome. Why? The answer almost certainly lies among the 231 extra genes they inherit with their extra copy of chromosome 21.
Narrowing the search for the anti-cancer gene is another observation: People with Down syndrome rarely get diseases linked to the overgrowth of blood vessels.
Might the anti-cancer effect of Down syndrome be linked to something that blocks the growth of new blood vessels? To find out, Sandra Ryeom, PhD, and colleagues at Children's Hospital Boston designed a clever series of experiments.
One of the genes on chromosome 21 encodes a protein that blocks a factor needed for blood vessel growth. They found that this protein, DSCR1, is overproduced in people with Down syndrome. It's also overproduced in about the same amounts in a mouse model of Down syndrome.
Might the extra protein really affect blood vessel growth? When Ryeom and colleagues looked at tumors grown from Down syndrome stem cells, they saw that these20cancer cells had fewer blood vessels than cancers grown from normal stem cells.
Further experiments confirmed that DSCR1 inhibited angiogenesis, or blood vessel growth.
Given that people with Down syndrome have 231 extra genes, it's improbable that DSCR1 is the only one with anti-cancer effects. And Ryeom and colleagues found evidence that another chromosome 21 gene, Dyrk1A, contributes to the anti-angiogenesis effect.
"I think there may be four or five genes on chromosome 21 that are necessary for angiogenesis suppression," Ryeom says in a news release.
"It is, perhaps, inspiring that the Down syndrome population provides us with new insight into mechanisms that regulate cancer growth and, by so doing, identifies potential targets for tumor prevention and therapy," Ryeom and colleagues conclude.
The findings appear in the early online edition of the journal Nature.

[Bill]

Hi Liz! I'm sorry for my late response here. Happy Memorial Day to you as well. I'm sorry to hear of your loss. I'm sure Jimmy was a daily bright spot in your life. Thanks for posting. These studies are fascinating and do hold alot of promise for the future. This is the first I've heard of this. Thank you.

[Sheila]

Liz
I saw this on TV...and read an article about it...I immediately forwarded it to my youngest sister whose only child has Down Syndrome. I said "wouldnt it be something if my little Theresa (who is now 17) holds the cure to my cancer.....she is a gift to our family, whether she is the cure link or not....I cannot imagine life without her...she has enriched the whole family...in 3 weeks, she will represent our area in the State Special Olympics...

[Paty]

Liz,

Thanks for the article. I could never imagine there would be a link between down syndrome and cancer. I am going to share this info with my close family as I also have a nice and a cousin with down syndrome.