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Monday August 10 6:17 PM EDT
Antisense DNA blocks tumor growth in mice
NEW YORK, Aug 10 (Reuters) -- A snippet of genetic material known as antisense DNA can block a tumor
promoting-gene in cancer cells and help prevent
them from growing in mice, a study suggests. The researchers say a similar approach added to chemotherapy
might help prevent relapse in humans with
Burkitt's lymphoma, the type of cancer cells injected into the mice.
"It is possible to selectively target genes inside the nucleus of cancer cells," says study author Dr. Eric
Wickstrom. "It is payoff time for the past 50 years of
public investment in medical research."
Wickstrom and Dr. Janet Smith of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, published the
results of their study in the August 5th issue of
the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Antisense DNA is designed to block the cell's protein-making
machinery by suppressing gene activity.
The gene Wickstrom and Smith targeted is called c-MYC, which plays a key role in determining whether
immature cells divide, or stop dividing and develop
into specialized cells. When mutated, c-MYC transforms normal cells into cancer, and is involved in about a
quarter of all human cancers.
The researchers tested several versions of the antisense DNA, which were injected into mice with Burkitt's
lymphoma, a particularly aggressive and fast
growing cancer of the immune system.
Wickstrom, who has been working on antisense theory for 16 years, explains that the antisense DNA can be
taken up by all cells in the body, but normal cells
take up relatively little.
"It is a happy accident that aggressive cancer cells take it up much more voraciously than normal cells. Once
inside the cell, the (DNA snippet) is transported
to the nucleus through the normal pathways," Wickstrom said in an interview with Reuters Health. |
