A new gene which has the ability to slow down cancer growth has been identified by medical researchers. Cancer kills millions of people each year,
A new gene which has the ability to slow down cancer growth has been identified by medical researchers. Cancer kills millions of people each year, and luckily tthe discovery of the new gene,called Sox 18, will help targeting the cancer of the colon, prostate,pancreas,brain and bowel.
Sox regulates blood vessel development and could be manipulated to stunt the cancer by starving the tumour cells.This discoverywas made by Peter Koopman and George Muscat at the University of Queensland's Institute for Molecular Bioscience.
"Tumours cannot grow above a certain size unless they attract growth of blood vessels, so by being able to control blood vessel development we may be ble to slow or stop the cancer, and the next step will be to establish which genes interact with Sox 18 to control blood vessel development and also what processes are required within cells to produce the final effects," Dr Koopman said. This gene could also be manipulated to do the reverse: to speed up blood vessel development to help heal wounds faster, and to treat circulation problems which could otherwise lead to limb amputation in diabetics. As a matter of fact this research has brought light to the scope of life of many cancer patients.
