Three Cancers Share Genetic Link

[TECH NEWS]

A gene has been linked to at least three cancers in different tissues in the body, US researchers say. Their findings, reported in the journal Science, showed a fifth of melanomas (skin cancer), Ewing’s sarcomas (bone) and glioblastomas (brain) had a defective copy of the gene STAG2. It controls the way genetic material is divided between cells. A cancer charity said the study provided researchers with new ways of tackling the disease. Human genetic information is bound up in 23 pairs of chromosomes. When a cell divides in two, there should be 23 pairs in each of the two cells produced. Too many or too few chromosomes—known as aneuploidy—is common in cancer. Researchers at the Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington DC, have found a gene which controls that separation of genetic material. Professor Todd Waldman said: “In the cancers we studied, mutations in STAG2 appear to be a first step in the transformation of a normal cell into a cancer cell. We are now looking at whether STAG2 might be mutated in breast, colon, lung, and other common human cancers.”

8/18/2011, James Gallagher, Health Reporter, BBC News

based on Georgetown University Medical Center Press Release