In 2012, only 16 U.S. hospitals performed a combined total of 38 liver transplants for the treatment of this cancer, 13 of which occurred on the East Coast, according to data from the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS)…
In the latest issue of the journal Oncogene, Florence Janody and her team at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC, Portugal), identified a novel mechanism by which the activity of Src is limited by the cell’s skeleton (cytoskeleton) limiting the development of tumours. Using the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, as a model, Florence Janody and her team were able to stop the tumour development induced by the high activity of Src through the genetic manipulation of the cytoskeleton in fly tissues. A major component of the cytoskeleton, the actin protein, form cables that crisscross the cell, creating a network, where molecules can move, inside the cell. …
Using the technique, the team was able to pinpoint where in the body metastatic cancer cells ended up after they broke off from an initial tumor site, using readily available lab reagents. …
"This master regulator is normally turned off in adult cells, but it is very active during embryonic development and in all highly aggressive tumors studied to date," says Linda Resar, M.D., an associate professor of medicine, oncology and pediatrics, and affiliate in the Institute for Cell Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "Our work shows for the first time that switching this gene off in aggressive cancer cells dramatically changes their appearance and behavior." A description of the experiments appears in the May 2 issue of the journal PLOS ONE…
The broad reach of the effect of mutations in the complex, called BAF, rivals that of another well-known tumor suppressor called p53. It also furthers a growing notion that these so-called chromatin-regulatory complexes may function as much more than mere cellular housekeepers. "Although we knew that this complex was likely to play a role in preventing cancer, we didn’t realize how extensive it would be," said postdoctoral scholar Cigall Kadoch, PhD…