Study Finds Gene Linked to Liver Cancer in Mice

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Study Finds Gene Linked to Liver Cancer in Mice
Fri Apr 2, 5:34 PM ET  Add Health - Reuters to My Yahoo!



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A single gene may be a crucial factor in the development of liver cancer, U.S. researchers reported on Friday, in a finding they hope could lead to a new treatment of the disease.




   

The report, in the journal Genes and Development, said that when the gene was deleted from liver cells in laboratory mice bred to develop liver cancer, the animals failed to grow tumors.


The researchers have already begun work on a drug that targets the gene and has reduced the growth of cancer-cell colonies.


"To my knowledge, this is the first time a gene has been directly linked to the growth of cancer cells in live animals," said Robert Costa, professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who led the study.


Mice studies often fail when translated to humans, but Costa said the findings were potentially significant.


"We're extremely excited about this finding because it suggests we might have a therapy for stemming the spread of liver cancer," he said.


The gene, called Foxm1b, is crucial for tissues to repair and replenish themselves. When it is absent, DNA fails to replicate and cells cannot divide properly.


"Foxm1b is expressed (active) in many different kinds of cancer cells, which leads us to believe it plays a key role in promoting the growth of tumors other than liver cancer," Costa said in a statement.


His team has begun testing a drug that could block Foxm1b activity and starve tumor cells of the protein that Foxm1b manufactures, stopping them from growing.


"The 'drug' reduced not only the activity of Foxm1b but also the growth of cancer-cell colonies," Costa said.


Foxm1b is known to be involved in aging diseases and Costa believe it may be that the body turns it off in old age.


"I know it's speculative, but perhaps aging is just an unintended by-product of an adaptive mechanism to stave off cancer and certain death. Perhaps aging is just nature's way of attacking cancer," Costa said.