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Biotech / Medical : CRYOGENIC SOLUTIONS CYGS -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: rabdo allen who wrote (17)	8/11/1998 12:15:00 PM
From: rabdo allen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19

ANYDODY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SHOULD WE BE ENCOURAGED?????? 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.