BioCentury
ARTICLE | Preclinical News

Paper reveals tissue-specificity of cancer growth genes

March 23, 2018 10:23 PM UTC

A study led by Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital researchers published in Cell showed genes underlying cancer proliferation perform in a tissue-specific manner, potentially presenting a new development paradigm for targeted cancer treatments.

The researchers screened human mammary epithelial cells (HMEC), human pancreatic nestin (NES)-expressing epithelial cells (HPNE) and human fetal lung fibroblasts for proliferation regulators, and identified 391 growth-promoting genes or oncogenes and 1,269 that suppress tumorigenesis or proliferation. An additional screen showed more than 50% overlap between the cell lines for proliferation-suppressing genes, but a genetic overlap of only 7.5-8.5% for growth-promoting genes, suggesting that growth-promoting genes operate in a tissue-specific manner...