New! Sign up for our free email newsletter.
Science News
from research organizations

Dual Functions Of Gene Revealed, For Better And For Worse

Date:
May 28, 2008
Source:
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
Summary:
Researchers have pinpointed the function of a potent cancer gene. The gene, known as "ERG", has long been associated with a range of human malignancies, including leukemia and sarcoma. American scientists showed in 2005 that ERG is mutated in more than half of all prostate cancers.
Share:
FULL STORY

Researchers at WEHI have pinpointed the function of a potent cancer gene.

The gene, known as "ERG", has long been associated with a range of human malignancies, including leukemia and sarcoma. American scientists showed in 2005 that ERG is mutated in more than half of all prostate cancers.

It was unclear, however, what function ERG normally performs in the human body and why it is so carcinogenic when mutated.

The team at WEHI has now demonstrated that ERG's usual role is to regulate the activity of blood stem cells. Without ERG, these cells cannot divide normally and the body fails to generate the trillions of blood cells that required each day to carry oxygen and fight infection.

The study suggests that ERG causes cancer by convincing normal cells to behave like stem cells, triggering unrestrained growth and expansion.

The findings offer hope that the targets of ERG might now be open to identification, which in the future might lead to new drugs that shut down the proliferation of cancer cells.

The study was published in the journal, Nature Immunology.

The research team was led by Benjamin Kile and included Stephen Loughran, Elizabeth Kruse, Douglas Hacking, Carolyn de Graaf, Craig Hyland, Tracy Wilson, Katya Henley, Sarah Ellis, Anne Voss, Donald Metcalf, Douglas Hilton and Warren Alexander.

The work was supported by the NHMRC, the Australian Stem Cell Centre, the Australian Phenomics Network, the Australian Research Council, the Australian Department of Education, Science and Training, the University of Melbourne, the Cancer Council Victoria and MuriGen Therapeutics Pty Ltd.


Story Source:

Materials provided by Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Cite This Page:

Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. "Dual Functions Of Gene Revealed, For Better And For Worse." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 28 May 2008. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080527091947.htm>.
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. (2008, May 28). Dual Functions Of Gene Revealed, For Better And For Worse. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080527091947.htm
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. "Dual Functions Of Gene Revealed, For Better And For Worse." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080527091947.htm (accessed March 28, 2024).

Explore More

from ScienceDaily

RELATED STORIES