New research from Queen Mary, University of London has uncovered a gene which plays a key role in the development of oesophageal cancer (cancer of the gullet).
\nThe researchers studied families who suffer a rare inherited condition making them highly susceptible to the disease and found that a fault in a single gene was responsible. Initial studies suggest that the gene could play a role in the more common, non-inherited form of the disease, revealing a new target for treating this aggressive type of cancer.
\nOesophageal cancer affects more than 8,000 people each year in the UK and rates are rising. It is more common in the UK than anywhere else in Europe.
\nSurvival rates are poor compared to other types of cancer with only eight per cent of people alive five years after diagnosis. Scientists know little about how oesophageal cancer develops and very few drugs for targeting the disease are currently available.
\nThe new study was led by Professor David Kelsell from Barts and the London Medical School, Queen Mary, University of London with collaborators from the University of Dundee and the University of Liverpool.
\nThe research concentrated on three families with a hereditary condition called tylosis with oesophageal cancer. This condition affects the skin and mouth and sufferers have a 95 per cent chance of developing oesophageal cancer by the age of 65.
\nThe research revealed that all three families carried a faulty version of a gene called RHBDF2.
\nExperiments showed that this gene plays an important role in how cells that line the oesophagus, and cells in the skin, respond to injury. When the gene is functioning normally it ensures that cells grow and divide in a controlled fashion to help heal a wound.
\nHowever, in tylosis patients\u2019 cells, and in cells from oesophageal cancers, the gene malfunctions. This allows cells to divide and grow uncontrollably, causing cancer.
\nProfessor Kelsell explains: ‘In studying this relatively rare condition, we have made an important discovery about a cancer that is all too common. Finding a genetic cause for this aggressive cancer, and understanding what that gene is doing, is an enormous step forward.
\n‘By analysing the complex biology which causes a particular type of cancer we begin to understand which treatments might be effective and also which treatments are unlikely to help.’\nQueen Mary University of London<\/link>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New research from Queen Mary, University of London has uncovered a gene which plays a key role in the development of oesophageal cancer (cancer of the gullet). The researchers studied families who suffer a rare inherited condition making them highly susceptible to the disease and found that a fault in a single gene was responsible. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-e-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2156"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2156\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}