Oncogenes

[Guest guest]

" Oncogenes are genes that, when mutated, contribute to the development of many

cancers including leukemias and lymphomas. Although cancers are by nature quite

complex, some types of tumors rely so completely on the activity of the mutated

genes that researchers have coined the term " oncogene addiction. " Blocking the

effect of these oncogenes - the focus of several current cancer therapies - can

cause the tumors to shrink. For instance, the drug imatinib, marketed as

Gleevec, targets a key oncogene in chronic myelogenous leukemia and

gastrointestinal stromal tumors.

" Researchers and clinicians know that blocking the activity of oncogenes can

confer dramatic clinical benefit, " said Felsher. " But until recently all of us

had assumed that most of the effects we saw on the tumor were relatively

independent of the microenvironment of the host. "

" In contrast, Felsher and his colleagues found that disabling an oncogene called

Myc in mice with Myc-dependent leukemias caused complete regression of tumors

only in mice with intact immune systems. Tumors in mice with completely or

partially compromised immune systems shrank more slowly and were left with a

thousand-fold more residual disease. These tumors were also significantly more

likely to recur during the 80 days after treatment was stopped. "

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/206051.php

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FYI,

Lottie Duthu