Tag Archives: dna

Genetic variant that increases testicular cancer risk in caucasians evolved to protect light skin

"The genetic risk factor we identified is associated with one of the largest risks ever reported for cancer," says study author Douglas Bell of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences at the National Institutes of Health. "We think it might prove useful for identifying individuals at the highest risk for cancer or who might benefit from preventive or therapeutic treatments." About half of human cancers are associated with mutations in the p53 gene, which regulates vital cell functions as well as tumor formation in many tissues. Because p53 must activate a wide range of genes to influence cancer-related signaling pathways, Bell and Gareth Bond of the University of Oxford and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research speculated that cancer risk could be associated with genetic variation in p53-binding sites. …

After almost a century, a question answered; genes protect themselves against being silenced

As explicated today in the journal Nature, methylation in fact enforces gene silencing, and it is levels of a newly identified form of RNA produced by individual genes that determines whether they are turned off by the addition of a methyl (CH3) group by the enzyme DNA methylase 1 (DNMT1). The study, led by HSCI Principal Faculty member Daniel Tenen, MD, found that during transcription of DNA to RNA, a gene produces a small amount of what the investigators named "extracoding RNA," which stays in the nucleus and binds to DNMT1, blocking its ability to methylate, or silence the gene. The discovery of RNA’s new function has therapeutic potential as an on-off switch for gene expression…

Novel way discovered to ‘switch on’ tumor suppressors that have been silenced

The research group, led by Professor Daniel Tenen, Director of CSI Singapore, demonstrated for first time that RNA interacts with an enzyme essential for DNA methylation, known as DNA methyl transferase 1 (DNMT1), offering strategies for the treatment of diseases such as cancer. In this study, the researchers focused on a new class of RNAs, which is critical in regulating DNA methylation. …

Cellular signals between pancreatic cancer tumors, saliva

The disease is typically diagnosed through an invasive and complicated biopsy. But a discovery by researchers at the UCLA School of Dentistry may be one major step toward creating a noninvasive tool that would enable clinicians and oncologists to detect pancreatic cancer through a simple risk assessment test using saliva. In a study on a tumor-ridden mouse model, the UCLA researchers were able to definitively validate that pancreatic cancer biomarkers reside in saliva…

No viral cause for breast cancer and brain tumors

It has been scientifically proven that about 15 per cent of all cancer cases are the result of viral infection, but many researchers believe that even more cancers could be caused by viruses. Among other theories, it is suggested that the Epstein-Barr virus could be a possible cause of breast cancer and that the cytomegalovirus might cause the malignant brain tumour glioblastoma. Extremely comprehensive study "There is some controversy in that we have not found any viruses in these forms of cancer, but if there were any viral involvement in breast cancer and glioblastoma, it is likely that we would have found some trace of it…

New role for cell dark matter in genome integrity

Each time a cell divides, chromosomes, the long DNA molecules that encode our genes, must be duplicated. But the machinery that does this replication is imperfect, failing to perform duplication all the way to the ends of chromosomes. How living cells divide and how this process is accurately achieved are among the deepest questions scientists have been addressing for decades. …

In prostate cancer prognosis, telomere length may matter

"Doctors are looking for new ways to accurately predict prostate cancer patients’ prognoses, because the current methods that use disease stage, Gleason score, and PSA are not perfect," says Alan Meeker, Ph.D., assistant professor of pathology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and its Kimmel Cancer Center. "Telomere shortening is common in cancer, but the degree of shortening varies from one cancer cell to another within each patient, and this variability may give us a better idea of how prostate cancers behave." In the study, described in the October issue of Cancer Discovery, the scientists studied tissue samples from 596 men surgically treated for prostate cancer thought to be confined to the prostate and who were participants in a long-term follow-up study on men’s health. …

New insights into DNA repair process may spur better cancer therapies

The insights, reported online the week of Sept. 30, 2013, in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, build on earlier work by the research team and identify new prospects for developing cancer therapies. The researchers have focused on a complex series of events that cells routinely undertake to repair DNA damaged by sun exposure, smoking and even normal metabolism. If not correctly repaired, DNA breakages can result in cellular damage leading to cancer. …

New insights into the ribosome; important implications for disease

But in recent years, it has been demonstrated that the ribosome is far more than just a processing unit; indeed, current research points to an important role for this complex structure in actively regulating biological processes. Now, in a first-of-its-kind study that broadly examines the composition of the riboproteome, a scientific team led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) reveals previously unappreciated components of the ribosome, uncovering a large and dynamic structure that, among other things, can be altered in cancer. Published in today’s on-line issue of the journal Cell Reports, the study additionally describes the development of an analytic platform that can be widely applied to numerous biological systems to highlight the functional roles of possible disease genes associated with the riboproteome. "A primary goal of our lab is to gain a better understanding of translation and its impact on cancer," explains senior author Pier Paolo Pandolfi, MD, PhD, Scientific Director of the Cancer Center at BIDMC and George C…