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A Gene That “Turns Off” Cancer?

Canadian scientists find gene that suppresses tumor growth

By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com

August 15, 2007

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Is it the Holy Grail of cancer research? Scientists at Canada’s B.C. Cancer Center say it may be – a gene that works almost like a light switch, turning off cancer.

The scientists, led by Dr. Poul Sorensen, say they have discovered a novel gene that suppresses the growth of human tumors in multiple cancers, including breast, lung, and liver cancers, as well as melanomas, lymphomas and sarcomas.

Published in the advance online publication of Nature Medicine, the study found that a gene, HACE1, has the ability to help cells deal with various forms of stress, including environmental cancer triggers that cause tumor formation.

When the HACE1 gene is missing or inactive, cancerous cells are able to form tumors, and when the gene is re-expressed, it prevents these cells from forming tumors.

The study was conducted in collaboration with Dr. Josef Penninger of the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

“The discovery of this gene is very exciting because it clearly impacts a wide range of cancers, and provides a novel link between cellular stress and cancer,” said Sorensen, Senior Scientist at the BC Cancer Agency, an agency of the Provincial Health Services Authority.

“If we can learn how to reactivate HACE1 or block cancer cells from inactivating this gene, it may be possible to improve treatments for many cancer patients.”

To test whether HACE1 is a tumor suppressor gene, researchers knocked out the gene in mice. They hypothesized that the mice would be more susceptible to tumor growth, and diverse tumors did indeed form, but at a low rate.

However, when the mice were also subjected to various forms of stress, including ultraviolet radiation, lung carcinogens, or other genetic alterations, this resulted in a dramatic increase in cancer growth, with the mice developing breast, lung, and liver cancers, as well as lymphomas, melanomas and sarcomas.

Researchers also re-introduced the HACE1 gene into human tumor cells and found that cells lost their ability to form tumors. Conversely, when levels of HACE1 were experimentally reduced in non-cancerous cells, they were able to form tumors.

“We’ve always suspected that cancer is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors working together,” says Dr. Sorensen. “Our results give us insight into how the disease takes root when a single gene is inactivated.”

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