ScienceDaily (Feb. 29, 2008) — A gene crucial for embryonic development can quickly become a potent cancer promoter in adult mice after a genetic misalignment, according to researchers from Fox Chase Cancer Center, causing white blood cells to become cancerous spontaneously. In the March 1 issue of the journal Cancer Research, the researchers detail how a gene called Dlx5 works cooperatively with a known oncogene, Akt2, to drive cancer in mice. The protein that Dlx5 encodes could be a target for drugs to slow the growth of lymphomas and other cancers in humans, they say.
