PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

29-May-2014

Contact: George Hunka ghunka@aftau.org 212-742-9070 American Friends of Tel Aviv University

About one in eight women in the United States will contract breast cancer in her lifetime. Now new research from Tel Aviv University-affiliated researchers, in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University, has provided another tool to help women, clinicians, and scientists searching for a cure to the one of the most widespread yet incurable diseases on the planet.

Dr. Ella Evron and Dr. Ayelet Avraham of the TAU-affiliated Assaf Harofeh Medical Center, together with Prof. Saraswati Sukumar of Johns Hopkins, have found that "gene regulation," the process that shuts off certain parts of a cell's DNA code or blueprint in healthy breast tissue cells, may also play a critical role in the development of breast cancer. Their research, published in PLOS ONE, focused on one particular gene TRIM29 selected from a pool of 100 genes with regulatory patterns specific to normal breast tissue, to prove the link between breast-specific genes and the pathology of cancer.

"We found that normal tissue affects the cancer that grows in that organ in other words, the specific pattern of gene regulation in the normal breast affects breast cancer, the characteristics of the disease, and its clinical behavior," said Dr. Avraham, a biologist and a researcher in the lab. "We hope that this study will lead to a better understanding of the cancer predisposition of mammary tissues and point to new targets for cancer intervention."

Searching for the right gene

In the study, normal tissue samples taken from conventional breast reduction surgeries were examined in a laboratory. The researchers isolated the milk ducts and purified the breast-tissue cells to create a cell culture, which was then tested for different gene regulation profiles.

While all cell types share the same genetic code (DNA), certain genes are specifically "expressed" or "silenced" in each cell type. Consequently, the unique gene expression patterns in every tissue dictate its structure and function. Various "gatekeeper" mechanisms either allow or block gene expression in our cells. One such mechanism is "DNA methylation," which shuts off or silences parts of the genetic code to form a specific pattern that identifies each tissue type.

The researchers compared the DNA methylation profiles of thousands of genes in breast, colon, lung, and endometrial tissues, selecting one gene, TRIM29, for further analysis. They found that the TRIM29 gene bore a unique DNA regulation in normal and cancerous breast tissues as opposed to other organ tissues.

See the original post:
How breast cancer 'expresses itself'

Comments are closed.