A mouse resistant to cancer, even to those highly-aggressive types, has been created by researchers at the University of Kentucky. The breakthrough stems from a discovery by UK College of Medicine professor of radiation medicine Vivek Rangnekar and a team of researchers who found a tumor-suppressor gene called "Par-4" in the prostate.
Researchers discovered that the Par-4 gene kills cancer cells, but not normal cells. Rangnekar's study is unique in that mice born with this gene are not developing tumors. The mice grow normally and have no defects. In fact, the mice possessing Par-4 actually live a few months longer than the control animals, indicating that they have no toxic side effects.
Via: ScienceDaily
Researchers discovered that the Par-4 gene kills cancer cells, but not normal cells. Rangnekar's study is unique in that mice born with this gene are not developing tumors. The mice grow normally and have no defects. In fact, the mice possessing Par-4 actually live a few months longer than the control animals, indicating that they have no toxic side effects.
Via: ScienceDaily
Comments (11)
My swing has been called a cancer by my friends for years - I've been looking for ways to fix it, but old habits die hard, ya know?
hahahahahaa
Gene therapy and research is very important and powerful, but if you perturb a complex system of any kind (in this case, the genome) you WILL ALWAYS get unexpected and possibly terrible results.
That said, good for them. They just got funding forever...
And all these years people have only been focusing on curing breast cancer. Anyone know of a thing called prostate cancer?