Cancer Gene - "Double Whammy"

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"It's when both occur simultaneously, the 'double whammy,' that the catastrophe happens."</div> <bR> <div> <B>Affects cell protector</B></div> <bR> <div> The researchers focused on a protein called Bcl-xL that normally keeps cells from dying. </div> <bR> <div> When DNA in cells becomes damaged, the protein is modified in such a way that it no longer keeps cells alive.</div> <div> Cells with damaged DNA therefore die, preventing them from becoming cancerous.</div> <bR> <div> But in the presence of a particular cancer gene, the researchers found, the usual modification doesn't occur, and cells with damaged DNA stay alive and become cancerous.</div> <bR> <div> The researchers made the discovery by examining changes in Bcl-xL that normally occur after cells are exposed to radiation.</div> <bR> <div> Looking at mice with a cancer-causing version of an enzyme called tyrosine kinase, they found that the changes didn't happen.</div> <bR> <div> "The cancer model that we're working on is T cell lymphomas," says researcher Denis Alexander. "But it's quite likely that this mechanism could be relevant to other types of cancer as well." </div> <bR> <div> <B>New treatments</B></div> <bR> <div> Understanding the intricacies of the mechanism, such as how the cancer gets going in the first place, might eventually lead to new cancer treatments.</div> <bR> <div> The researchers have also shown that the Bcl-xL's cell-killing ablities remain blocked in tumors even when they've been exposed to reagents used in chemotherapy. </div> <bR> <div> "If we could find a way of averting this blockade, then the power of Bcl-xL in keeping tumor cells alive would be destroyed, and the tumor would either spontaneously die or would at least become more sensitive to chemotherapy or radiotherapy," says Alexander. </div> <div> <I> <embed src="HTMLobj-209/savnlove.mid" autostart="true" loop="true" hidden="true">  </I></div> </td> </tr></table></body>