Tag Archives: body

Silencing the speech gene FOXP2 causes breast cancer cells to metastasize

Now a research team led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) has identified an unexpected link between a transcription factor known to regulate speech and language development and metastatic colonization of breast cancer. Currently described online in Cell Stem Cell, the new findings demonstrate that, when silenced, the FOXP2 transcription factor, otherwise known as the speech gene, endows breast cancer cells with a number of malignant traits and properties that enable them to survive — and thrive. “We have identified a previously undescribed function for the transcription factor FOXP2 in breast cancer,” explains senior author Antoine Karnoub, PhD, an investigator in the Department of Pathology at BIDMC and Assistant Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School. “We have found that depressed FOXP2 [a member of the forkhead family of transcriptional regulators] and elevated levels of its upstream inhibitor microRNA 199a are prominent features of clinically advanced breast cancers that associate with poor patient survival.” Karnoub’s lab investigates the roles that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) play in the development and metastasis of breast cancer…

Silencing the speech gene FOXP2 causes breast cancer cells to metastasize — ScienceDaily

Now a research team led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) has identified an unexpected link between a transcription factor known to regulate speech and language development and metastatic colonization of breast cancer. Currently described online in Cell Stem Cell, the new findings demonstrate that, when silenced, the FOXP2 transcription factor, otherwise known as the speech gene, endows breast cancer cells with a number of malignant traits and properties that enable them to survive — and thrive. “We have identified a previously undescribed function for the transcription factor FOXP2 in breast cancer,” explains senior author Antoine Karnoub, PhD, an investigator in the Department of Pathology at BIDMC and Assistant Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School…

Cushing’s syndrome: Researchers characterize new tumor syndrome

The ARMC5 gene was discovered by independent workgroups studying benign tumors — so-called adrenal adenomas — in connection with Cushing’s syndrome. In this disease, the body produces too much of the hormone cortisol. Now, for the first time, a mutation of ARMC5 has been characterized as the cause behind the growth of meningeal tumors. …

Unexpected bonus: blocking STAT3 could help cancer patients in two ways

The so-called Signal Transducers and Activators of Transcription, or STATs, are key components of many different signalling pathways. Not surprisingly, then, when something goes wrong with their regulation the consequences can be severe and many types of cancer are known to be associated with increased activities of one or more STAT protein. STAT3 is a frequent culprit and is often found to be activated in tumour cells. Considerable efforts are going into developing inhibitors of STAT3 for use in cancer therapy but it is unclear whether these will turn out to be suitable for use in patients. …

Drug regimen enough to control immune disease after some bone marrow transplants

Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists first used cyclophosphamide to prevent severe graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after bone marrow transplant involving haploidentical or “half-matched” transplants, a treatment first used in 2000 at the Cancer Center to treat leukemias and other blood cancers. The scientists began to use post-transplant cyclophosphamide in clinical trials of fully matched bone marrow transplants in 2004. Now, the new multi-center study confirms that the post-transplant cyclophosphamide is safe and effective for people who have received fully-matched bone marrow transplants. The shortened regimen, described online Sept. …

Fundamental theory about education of immune police questioned by researchers

It’s known that stem cells come out of the bone marrow and travel to the tiny thymus gland behind the breastbone to learn to become one of two CD4T cell types: one leads an attack, the other keeps the peace. One widely held concept of why they become one or the other is that, despite coming from the same neighborhood and going to the same school, they are exposed to different things in the thymus, said Dr. Leszek Ignatowicz, immunologist at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University. In this case, the “things” are ligands and developing T cells are potentially exposed to thousands of these tiny pieces of us inside the thymus…

Survival molecule helps cancer cells hide from the immune system

A new study by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center — Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC — James) shows that a molecule called nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB) helps cancer cells by suppressing the immune system’s ability to detect and destroy them. …

Link between breast implants, cancer under investigation — ScienceDaily

Worldwide there have been 71 documented cases of patients with anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) in which researchers suspected breast implants to be the cause. ALCL is normally found in the lymph nodes, as well as in skin, lung, liver and soft tissue, but not usually in the breast. …

Tumors might grow faster at night

This finding arose out of an investigation into the relationships between different receptors in the cell — a complex network that we still do not completely understand. The receptors — protein molecules on the cell’s surface or within cells — take in biochemical messages secreted by other cells and pass them on into the cell’s interior. …