Article
Website
Thursday, April 11, 2019
Scientists Discover 'on and off Switch' genes that Promote Tumor Growth
Scientists at the Washington University School of Medicine discovered that there are 'jumping' genes that are found in cancer that force the genes that produce the promotion of cancer to stay on. This is a new breakthrough because when looking for cancer traditionally, scientists and doctors would look for mutations or altered sequences in the DNA. These jumping genes would be overlooked and not focused on for signs of tumor growth. This new breakthrough can now lead scientists in a new and fresh direction on the never ending quest to understand how and why cancer occurs and ultimately finding a way to cure cancer growth.
Article
Website
Article
Website
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This is a really interesting discovery. When learning about cancer in the past, it was always stated that cancer was usually the result of a mutation, but never actually went into detail about. The action of these jumping genes actually reminds me of how viruses attack cells, inject their DNA, and force the cell to replicate new viruses. I thought this was kind of similar to how these jumping genes force the promoter of the cancer to remain active and further replicate the cancer cells. I understand that this mechanism is not the same, but I did find the similarity interesting.
ReplyDelete