Posted on 01/21/2005 4:30:24 PM PST by Main Street
Edited on 01/21/2005 4:58:27 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
A CLUE CALLED 'POKEMON'
Scientists identify a single 'master' gene that seems to turn on cancer-causing action of other errant genes
FRONT PAGE.
An international team of scientists believes it has found cancer's master switch with the discovery of a gene they dubbed ``Pokemon.''
Like the electronic game figures -- tiny monsters with bad tempers -- the cancer-triggering gene apparently instigates the misbehavior of other cancer-causing genes, leading to tumor formation.
In Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, in collaboration with teams in Japan and Britain, announced that the gene plays a key role in starting a malignancy. As a result, scientists now believe they have stumbled upon an important new target for an anti-cancer drug.
Dr. Carlos Cardon-Cardo, a molecular pathologist at the cancer center and a senior author of the research, defined Pokemon as an oncogene, which means it is capable of causing cancer. Dozens of oncogenes have been discovered over the past 25 years. But unlike the others, Cardon-Cardo said Pokemon has a governing role: It is needed for other genes to function. Eliminate Pokemon, he said, and you stop the activity of other cancer-causing genes.
``This is the master switch that interacts with other genes,'' Cardon-Cardo said. ``It acts differently than other oncogenes. Others regulate cell growth, but Pokemon impacts on critical properties of cancer cells.''
Among those key properties, Pokemon enhances a cancer cell's ability to resist aging and death. This immortalizing factor essentially endows cancer cells with a Peter Pan-like quality that renders them robust indefinitely, the very trait that makes tumors difficult to treat.
Dr. Pier Paolo Pandolfi, the study's lead investigator, said even though Pokemon shares a name with imaginary figures, whimsy was never intended. ``This is very serious and the name was serendipitous, pure serendipity,'' Pandolfi said. Pokemon stands for POK erythroid myeloid ontogenic factor.
bttt...
Wow! This could be really great.
Awesome news, but when I read this line, my first thought was, predictably, 'these guys should get out more.' ;-)
I've always hated Pokemon....
? I don't understand why you think this is sad. This is great. We're getting closer to finding a cure for cancer. Pretty damn exciting if you ask me....
What's sad is assuming that we can know something before we look for it.
It's good that they found the switch, now I just hope they can turn it off.
If it makes you feel any better, we've been using electricity for ~100 years and we don't know exactly what it is, either.
Wow! You guys are old!
Like the electronic game figures -- tiny monsters with bad tempers -- the cancer-triggering gene apparently instigates the misbehavior of other cancer-causing genes, leading to tumor formation.
LOL!! Sometimes truth is screwier than fiction.
I think I'll wait and see on this one, although it could be hopeful. But what works in the test tube doesn't always work in people. Let's hope.
Bush's fault.
Actually, I think you are the one that is sad.
According to your line of logic we should have spent $XX amount - then given up.
Oh, well - this is too hard.
Perhaps forward thinking is not a concept you are familiar with.
What a dumb thing to say.
LVM
What does Pikichu have to say about this?
bump
What I'm saying is, we should know everything about cancer cells by now, and just be working on drugs to stop it. All this time I was under the impression that we understood what Cancer was, how it spread and were just looking for a drug to stop it, as it turns out we didn't have the foggiest clue as to what we were fighting, First rule, Know your enemy... Just think of all the Cancer patients that have been used as guinea pigs... I wonder if they know the docs didn't know what the hell they were doing?
Will this make the American Cancer Society glad or sad?
I believe the crooks of the medical profession when I see it with my own eyes.
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