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Gene Studies Reveal Cancer's Secrets
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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Next >> Another study on leukemia found that a set of genetic variants increases the risk for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The findings of this study add more pieces to the puzzle and could lead to better prevention and prognosis of the disease, according to lead researcher Susan Slager, associate professor of biostatistics at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
About 15,000 Americans will develop CLL each year, and 4,000 will die, so it is one of the rarer cancers, Slager said during the teleconference. However, "if you have a family member with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, your chances of getting the disease are eight times higher than that of the general population," she noted.
An earlier analysis identified seven DNA sequencing aberrations called "single nucleotide polymorphisms" (SNPs) that might lead to chronic lymphocytic leukemia. In the current study, researchers confirmed these findings in a separate sample of patients. They found the strongest genetic association for the disease was for a SNP on the 11q24 gene, where the risk was 50 percent higher. This was followed by a 39 percent increased risk with a separate SNP on the 6p25 gene.
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"Our findings will hopefully understand the biology of the disease, which may help us predict the disease, and it may help us develop better treatments and prognostic markers," Slager said.
Results of another study presented at the meeting showed that genetic variants in what's known as the microRNA processing pathway may predict a woman's risk for ovarian cancer.
"Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer in women in the United States, and one of the major risk factors is a family history of ovarian cancer, indicating that a genetic component contributes to ovarian cancer risk," Dr. Xifeng Wu, a professor in the department of epidemiology at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, said during the teleconference.
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Copyright © 2009 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
Last updated 4/22/2009
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SOURCES: April 21, 2009, teleconference with: John S. Witte, Ph.D., professor, Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco; Charles Mullighan, M.D., Ph.D., assistant member, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tenn.; Xifeng Wu, M.D., Ph.D., professor, Department of Epidemiology, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston; Susan Slager, Ph.D., associate professor of biostatistics, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.; Sunita Setlur, Ph.D., instructor in pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston; Gangning Liang, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of research, Department of Urology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles; presentations, American Association for Cancer Research 100th Annual Meeting, Denver
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