Genes Required for Cancer Cell Transformation Found

Researchers studying the molecular biologic mechanisms responsible for the transformation of normal cells into cancer cells have identified a core group of 67 genes whose activity is required for transformation to occur.

Investigators at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, USA; www.umich.edu) collected and analyzed 40 published cancer microarray data sets, comprising 38 million gene expression measurements from more than 3,700 cancer samples. To cope with this massive amount of data they developed a statistical method, comparative meta-profiling, to identify and assess the intersection of multiple gene expression signatures from the diverse collection of microarray data sets.

They characterized a common transcriptional profile comprising 67 genes that is universally activated in most cancer types relative to the normal tissues from which they arose, likely reflecting essential transcriptional features of neoplastic transformation. In addition, they characterized a transcriptional profile of 69 other genes that is commonly activated in various types of undifferentiated cancer, suggesting common molecular mechanisms by which cancer cells progress and avoid differentiation. These findings were published in the June 7, 2004, online edition of the Proceedings of the [U.S.] National Academy of Sciences.

"This paper is the first to report common patterns of genetic activity across multiple cancer microarray datasets from different investigators,” said senior author Dr. Arul M. Chinnaiyan, associate professor of pathology and urology at the University of Michigan. "These genes and their associated proteins are the molecular components that make different types of cancer more similar to each other than to normal tissue. Since these genes appear to be involved in so many types of cancer, they are prime targets for new cancer-fighting drugs.”




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