Researchers identify gene involved in pancreatic cancer

WASHINGTON, March 2 (Chinese media) -- Researchers from the

University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a gene that

is overexpressed in 90 percent of pancreatic cancers, the most deadly type of

cancer.

Results of the study appear in the March issue of

Cancer Cell.

Expression of the gene, Ataxia Telangiectasia Group D

Complementing gene (ATDC), is on average 20 times higher in pancreatic cancer

cells than in cells from a normal pancreas. What's more, the gene appears to

make pancreatic cancer cells resistant to current therapies.

"One of the challenges in pancreatic cancer is that

it is biologically aggressive and it does not respond well to chemotherapy or

radiation. We found that ATDC not only causes the cancer cells to grow faster

and be more aggressive, but it also makes the cancer cells particularly

resistant to chemotherapy and radiation. By targeting this gene, we may be able

to make cancer cells more sensitive to the therapies we already have in hand,"

says senior study author Diane Simeone, director of the Multidisciplinary

Pancreatic Cancer Clinic at the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The researchers injected into mice tumor cells

expressing ATDC and compared that to a separate group of mice injected with

tumor cells in which ATDC was suppressed. In the ATDC-expressing group, tumors

grew in all the samples and were significantly larger and starting to

metastasize, or spread. In the group in which ATDC was not expressed, only

minimal signs of tumor growth were seen after 60 days.

"This particular gene promotes the biologic

aggressiveness of the cancer," says Simeone, who is also Lazar J. Greenfield

Professor of Surgery and Molecular Integrative Physiology at the U-M

Medical School.

In addition, the researchers found that ATDC is most

highly expressed at the point when pre-cancerous cells become malignant. ATDC

was also linked to increased levels of a signaling protein called beta-catenin,

which is known to play a key role in cancer development.

Researchers believe ATDC has potential as a target

for developing future therapies. It could also help doctors determine when a

patient has pancreatic cancer and when it's chronic pancreatitis, a diagnosis

that's often difficult to make without surgery. In some cases, this may allow

patients to avoid an operation.

ATDC also appears to be involved in other cancer

types, including bladder cancer and lung cancer. Researchers are continuing to

investigate its role. This research was done in the laboratory. No tests or

therapies related to ATDC are available at this time.

Statistics from the American Cancer Society show that

a total of 37,680 Americans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year

and 34,290 will die from the disease.