Gene behind rare skin cancer that heals itself discovered
March 11th, 2011 - 2:26 pm ICT by ANILondon, Mar 11 (ANI): Scientists have for the first time identified the gene behind a rare skin cancer, which grows rapidly for a few weeks before healing spontaneously.
Institute of Medical Biology (IMB) scientists under the Agency of Science, Technology and Research in Singapore are part of the international team of researchers who conducted the study.
The peculiar behaviour of this rare self-healing cancer, called multiple self-healing squamous epithelioma (MSSE), was discovered to be caused by a failure in the gene called TGFBR1, which is a key component of a signaling pathway that can also be impaired in other cancers.
This pathway is widely regarded in the field as a potential target for therapeutic intervention in cancer treatment.
“We started working on this in Dundee nearly 10 years ago, but it was not until we were able to apply new approaches to the problem, through the links we have developed in Singapore, that we were together able to identify the cause of the disease,” said Professor Birgit Lane, the team leader and Executive Director of IMB.
The TGFBR1 (Transforming Growth Factor (Beta), Receptor 1) gene makes a receptor protein through which healthy cells receive messages from their neighbours, instructing them to carry out processes essential to normal growth and development.
Normally, TGFBR1 messages help block the growth of early tumours of various types. But cancer cells can interpret these messages very differently. For cancers that have managed to start growing, TGFBR1 actually promotes their growth and spread instead.
Interestingly, the reverse happens in the self-healing tumors that have an inherited fault in the TGFBR1 gene.
MSSE patients with faulty TGFBR1 develop lots of small tumors - but at some point there is a switch in behaviour and the tumors lacking TGFBR1 start to shrink and heal by themselves.
Scientists do not yet fully understand how this happens but the result of this study has raised new approaches to studying this important signaling system and its relation to cancer.
The research was published in Nature Genetics today. (ANI)
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Tags: birgit, cancer cells, cancer treatment, cancers, growth and development, growth factor beta, healing cancer, medical biology, msse, neighbours, peculiar behaviour, receptor protein, science technology, self healing, signaling pathway, skin cancer, target, therapeutic intervention, transforming growth factor beta, tumours