Free Republic

Changes to metabolism disrupt cells' ability to differentiate. The mystery of how mutations in a gene called isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) cause brain cancer and leukaemia is beginning to be unravelled. Researchers have discovered that the mutations cause the production of an enzyme that can reconfigure on–off switches across the genome and stop cells from differentiating. The findings, published in three papers today in Nature1–3, could be used in the development of drugs for cancers with these mutations — a search that is already under way in many pharmaceutical companies. Some cancer patients could benefit from new treatments that target...

Enlarge ImageTelling tumor. A genetic mutation could help doctors diagnose deadly tumors in the brain.Credit: Photograph courtesy of Duke Photopath While survival rates for many cancers have improved over the years, brain cancers often remain stubbornly unresponsive to treatment. Now, researchers are turning to genetics and have hit on a gene mutation that can be used to differentiate between the deadliest brain cancers. The find could help doctors more accurately diagnose these devastating tumors. The most common brain tumor, glioblastoma, is also the deadliest. These tumors occur in two forms: primary, in which patients suddenly develop large and highly...