Slanted Science

What turns a normal cell into a cancer-causing cell? Well, the cell must lose control over its replication machinery, and this almost always happens in one or both of two ways: the genes which tell a cell to divide can develop mutations and become permanently switched on; or the genes which stop a cell from dividing develop mutations and become permanently switched off.
Genes in the first group – those which drive a cell to divide inappropriately – are called oncogenes, and scientists are reporting that they have discovered an oncogene which causes a nasty form of head/neck glandular cancer.

Published today in the well-respected journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the work was carried out at Sweden’s Sahlgrenska Academy, and was headed by Göran Stenman.

He and his co-workers have discovered a novel oncogene, present in 100% of  tested samples of  a type of cancer called adenoid cystic carcinoma. These tumors arise in secretory glands, such as those which produce saliva, and are associated with a high rate of mortality.

The most interesting part of this discovery is that the cancer-causing mutation is actually what is called a fusion gene. These are genes formed when two different areas of a cell’s DNA incorrectly join together, resulting in the generation of a new gene which promotes cell division, for example. You might want to think of it this way: DNA is a storage system for genes, which act as  small instruction manuals for cells. Imagine that two of these genes/instructions which are important for salivary gland cells read as follows:

1: STOP DIVIDING
2: START MAKING SALIVA

Effectively, what has happened in these tumors is that the two messages have become combined within the DNA filing system, leading to the formation  of a new, third gene:

3: START DIVIDING

That sounds simplistic, but it really is a fair representation of what happens in these mutations. In these cancers, the gene which contributes the message to “divide” is called MYB, and has previously been implicated in development of cancers in animals.

Professor Stenman describes the importance of finding a fusion gene driving a cancer of this kind:

“Previously it was thought that fusion genes pretty much only caused leukemia, but our group can now show that this type of cancer gene is also common in glandular cancer. Now that we know what the cancer is down to, we can also develop new and more effective treatments for this often highly malignant and insidious form of cancer.”

Good luck in your efforts, Prof Stenman.

Don’t Hold Your Breath, But This May Lead To: new drug treatments, which can target only the fusion gene and leave the two parent genes (present in the body’s normal cells) untouched.