Researchers Find Location of Pancreatic Cancer Gene

A team of researchers has mapped the location of a gene associated with inherited pancreatic cancer to a large region called 4q32-34, and they expect to have the gene sequenced within a year. Finding the gene will open new avenues for preventing, detecting, and treating the disease. The research appears in the early electronic edition of the April 2002 issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics.

Gathering sufficient genetic data was aided by the cooperation of Family X, the largest pancreatic-cancer family ever studied. Of the 20 family members affected (18 with pancreatic cancer or precancerous changes), nine have died of the disease, including five of six brothers. After genotyping the DNA samples from Family X, the researchers found that virtually every member of the family had a specific genetic marker on the long arm of chromosome 4, where the single-gene mutation responsible for pancreatic cancer is thought to be. None of the unaffected family members had this marker. Inherited pancreatic cancer accounts for about 10% of all cases.

The investigators were from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Seattle, WA. USA), the University of Washington School of Medicine (Seattle), and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (PA, USA).

"Once the actual gene is found, if it turns out to be commonly mutated in all forms of pancreatic cancer—not just the inherited type—it could be used as a marker for broad screening,” said Leonid Kruglyak, Ph.D., a statistical geneticist at Fred Hutchinson. "Knowing and understanding the gene's pathways to cancer also could lead to new therapeutic developments.”





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