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'Master' Gene That Triggers Breast Cancer Discovered
Described by the US researchers as a "master regulator," the SATB1 gene alters the behaviour of at least 1,000 other genes within tumour cells, said the study, published in the British journal Nature.
When over-activated it makes cancer cells proliferate, and when neutralised the gene stops the cells from dividing and migrating, the study reported.
"SATB1 will be a remarkable target for cancer therapy," lead scientist Termumi Kohwi-Shigematsu of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, told AFP.
The findings could not only pave the way to diagnostic tools that show the likelihood of the disease spreading, she said, but to drugs that could prevent or treat metastasis in breast cancer as well.
Up to now, it was impossible to predict whether cancer cells in a tumour were destined to invade neighboring tissue, travel through the blood system and form secondary tumours elsewhere in the body.
But the SATB1 protein is just such a marker. A tumour in which it is activated "is destined to metastasise," said Kohwi-Shigematsu.
Metastasis is the overwhelming cause of death in patients with solid tumours. Less than 10 percent of women with metastatic breast cancer survive beyond a decade, and just over a quarter make it past five years.
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More News on: Women and Cancer, DNA Finger Printing, Breast Biopsy, Pagets disease of the breast, Mastitis, Cancer and Homeopathy, Breast Cancer Facts, Cancer Facts, Cancer, Breasts - Structures and Types
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