Friday, February 14, 2014

Weakness exposed in most common cancer gene


Weakness exposed in most common cancer gene

More biology articles in the 'Molecular & Cell Biology' category






Researchers at the NYU medical center have discovered a weakness in the most commonly mutated gene in human cancer. The weakness is known as mutant K-Ras, and it is said that this weakness can be exploited with drug chemotherapy to prevent the tumor from growing. It was suspected that mutant K-Ras was the main cause behind about a third of all cancers. The lab preformed experiments and in the experiments  it showed that in cancer cells that K-Ras tumor growth was reliant on the cells' need to check and mend to their DNA. Researches discovered that a commonly used chemotherapy drug maybe more effective in killing K-Ras cancer cells by blocking their ability to check their DNA for any damage.

Link: http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2014/02/10/weakness_exposed_in_most_common_cancer_gene.html


NOS Themes:

  • Science is credible
  • Science is based on data and evidence
  • Science is collaborative 


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