Gene Slows CancerGene Slows Cancer
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{: The Toronto Sun, Wednesday March 1, 2000 p.22 BY SHARON LEM In the first success of a new approach to fighting cancer, scientists have identified a key gene that slows cancer growth. Toronto scientists have found that cancer cells produce sugar or carbohydrate chains that enable cancer cells to grow and spread to other parts of the body. Dr. Jim Dennis, a senior scientist at Mount Sinai Hospital's Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, found cancer cells cannot grow when their ability to produce sugarlcarbohydrate chains is restricted. "We found the synthesis of sugar chains- Mgat5-is elevated in human malignancies of breast, colon and skin cancers," Dennis said of the study published today in Nature Medicine. Dennis and his team created- mutant mice that were deficient of Mgat5. These mice appeared normal, but reacted differently when they were exposed to a powerful gene that causes cancer. The Mgat-deficient mice had an 80% to 95% reduction in breast cancer growth and metastasis to the lungs. "By knocking out the Mgat5 gene in mice, we found that this suppressed cancerous tumour growth," Dennis said. Experts predict a new treatment
will come on the market in the next five to 10 years. |
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