Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Gene mutation leads to increased risk of Leukemia

 Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a cancer that attacks the blood cells and bone marrow. This cancer usually occurs most often in children, however it may occur in adults but its harder to treat later in life. According to a recent study at the University of Colorado Cancer center, they discovered a mutation in the gene ETV6 that contributes to ALL. This gene contributes to the development of blood cells and acts as a blue print for proteins to undergo transcription.



The study started when a family was found to have an extremely high rate of having ALL. Every family member had these three traits in common: big red blood cells, low platelet counts, and a tendency to bleed. The researchers decided to carry out exome sequencing of this family's genes which lead them to the mutation in ETV6.  This study revealed that this mutation can run in families.
I believe these findings are very important to diagnosing ALL earlier and being able to tell if your family has a risk of developing this cancer. I am excited to see where these findings will lead to next in developing cures for cancers.  
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1 comment:

  1. Melissa StatesApril 4, 2015 at 6:53 PM

    I think that this is very interesting and it was great that scientists were able to take advantage of this family's high rate of ALL and turn it into something positive. I wonder if this research could lead to a possible cure for ALL that is more effective than chemotherapy and radiation. If it could that would be great. For now though, I do agree with you that it can allow for earlier detection, which could probably help people out a lot. It is so interesting how research can be about anything, but usually most research and studies provide information that is able to help people a great deal.

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