Half-broken Gene Is Enough To Cause Cancer

clipped from www.sciencedaily.com ScienceDaily (Nov. 10, 2008) — Tumour suppressor genes do not necessarily require both alleles to be knocked out before disease phenotypes are expressed. Research published in BioMed Central's new open access journal PathoGenetics reveals that only one allele of SMAD4 has to be damaged to put a person at risk of pancreatic and colorectal cancer. Riccardo Fodde led a team of researchers from Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, who investigated SMAD4, a tumor suppressor gene implicated in pancreatic and colorectal cancer. They found that having one mutated SMAD4 allele was associated with the development of gastrointestinal polyps. This research is the first to address the molecular and cellular consequences of SMAD4 damage on a genome-wide scale. Ballabio said, "PathoGenetics will give scientists a unique opportunity to publish exciting research on the molecular mechanisms underlying the manifestations of disease phenotype".