Jump to full article: Reuters, 2002-05-01
Author: Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspon
Intro: Scientists said on Wednesday they had discovered three genes involved in lung cancer and when they replaced the genes in mice the cancer stopped spreading and in some cases was cured.
Based on these findings, researchers said they hoped to begin gene therapy experiments in lung cancer patients within a year.
The three genes not only slowed the growth and spread of lung cancer tumors, but seemed to cause them to die off, the researchers, at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, report in this week's issue of the journal Cancer Research.
The three genes, called 01F6, NPRL2 and FUS1, are all found on the same region of chromosome 3, said Dr. Jack Roth of M.D. Anderson, who helped lead the study.
"If you analyze the DNA in lung cancers you find that pieces of this chromosome are missing in many lung cancers," Roth said in a telephone interview. . .
Smoking seems to damage this area of the chromosome very early on, Roth said. "You even see it in cells lining the trachea and the bronchial tubes that look completely normal in patients who are heavy smokers," Roth said.
Some people seem to have more delicate chromosomes than others, the researchers found, which could explain why a few people seem to be able to smoke without developing cancer.
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