Gene able to kill breast cancer cells, say scientists

By JEREMY LAURANCE

LONDON - Scientists have discovered a gene that could be linked with up to 60 per cent of breast cancers.

The gene, known as DBC2 (for deleted in breast cancer) is one of the first tumour suppressor genes to be implicated in sporadic breast cancer, which accounts for 90 per cent of cases of the disease.

Sporadic breast cancer, which affects women with no family history of the disease, is distinct from inherited breast cancer, which is handed down the generations but which accounts for only a small proportion of cases.

In sporadic breast cancer, mutations in a gene during the life of the patient may encourage development of the disease.

Understanding how the gene works and why cancer develops when it mutates could open the way to new treatments.

Researchers from the Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory in New York and the University of Washington found the gene DBC2 was missing or inactive in 11 out of 19 cases (58 per cent) of sporadic breast cancer and in 7 out of 14 cases of lung cancer (50 per cent).

But when they examined cancers of the uterus, stomach, colon, brain and blood they found the gene was still present, suggesting its action is specific to the tissues of the lung and the breast.

Laboratory studies showed that when the active gene was introduced to breast cancer cells it had the power to kill them or stop them growing.

Dr Masaaki Hamaguchi, lead researcher, said: "More than half of sporadic breast cancer has some kind of genetic activity that can switch off DBC2, suggesting this gene has an anti-breast cancer effect."

The discovery could lead to new treatments based on the gene.

"This is a totally new type of gene and its role in the normal cell is not known yet. People thought this type of gene was not important but our research is a signal to other researchers that it may have a role in cancer."

The findings are to be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences next week.

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