Breast Cancer "Master Gene" Identified

In a recent advance in medical science, researchers have identified the "master gene" that causes the spread of breast cancer throughout the body.

Thousands of women who suffer from breast cancer were today given fresh hope after scientists announced they had discovered a way to stop the disease spreading.

The breakthrough paves the way for the development of drugs which could halt the progress of the disease and help save the lives of some of the 44,000 women diagnosed with the illness every year.

The most deadly feature of breast cancer is when it disperses from the breast, causing tumours to develop in other parts of the body.

But now researchers say they have found a way of stopping this process, known as metastasis, after pinpointing the gene which controls the spread of the cancer.

By removing this gene from cancer cells the American teams of scientists were able to halt its progress and even turned the cancer cell back to normal.

The gene, called SATB1, is thought to control the use of around 1000 others to promote the spread, says Dr Terumi Kohwi-Shigematsu of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, California, whose research is published in the journal Nature today.

"SATB1 is a key player," says Dr Kohwi-Shigematsu: "SATB1's role in breast cancer is a new paradigm for the way tumours progress."

Dr Kohwi-Shigematsu, working with Drs Hye-Jung Han and Yoshinori Kohwi, and with Dr Jose Russo of the Fox Chase Cancer Centre in Philadelphia, found that when SATB1 is detected in a breast tumour, the cancer is highly likely to progress or to recur.

By introducing SATB1 into breast cancer cells they found the tumour would start to spread. Conversely, removing the gene from metastatic cells not only abolishes cell spread and tumour growth in mice but also returns the cancer cells to looking normal.

The researchers confirmed the mouse work by studying more than 2,000 human primary breast cancer tissue samples. They found that gene was most active in patients whose survival times had been shortest; patients whose tumour samples showed that the gene was not in use generally had longer survival times.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

Aside from non-melanoma skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women. Breast cancer is the number one cause of cancer death in Hispanic women. It is the second most common cause of cancer death in white, black, Asian/Pacific Islander, and American Indian/Alaska Native women.

In 2004 (the most recent year numbers are available),

186,772 women and 1,815 men were diagnosed with breast cancer*†
40,954 women and 362 men died from breast cancer*†
†Source: U.S. Cancer Statistics Working Group. United States Cancer Statistics: 2004 Incidence and Mortality. Atlanta (GA): Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and National Cancer Institute; 2007.

*Note: Incidence counts cover approximately 98% of the U.S. population and death counts cover 100% of the U.S. population. Use caution in comparing incidence and death counts.

Top 10 Causes of Death for Women in the United States‡
The graph below shows how breast cancer compares to other common causes of death in women of all ages.



‡Source: Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program (www.seer.cancer.gov) SEER*Stat Database: Mortality – All COD, Public-Use With State, Total U.S. (1969–2004), National Cancer Institute, DCCPS, Surveillance Research Program, Cancer Statistics Branch, released April 2007. Underlying mortality data provided by NCHS (www.cdc.gov/nchs).

On a personal note, my Grandmother had breast cancer that metastasized, so did Mrs. Legalbgl's Grandmother. I don't think anyone in the United States can say they do not know someone who's life hasn't been touched by this disease. Any advancement in curing, preventing or stopping this disease is good news for all humans.