A single gene may be a crucial factor in the development of liver cancer, U.S. researchers reported on Friday, in a finding they hope could lead to a new treatment of the disease. The report, in the journal Genes and Development, said that when the gene was deleted from liver cells in laboratory mice bred to develop liver cancer, the animals failed to grow tumors. The researchers have already begun work on a drug that targets the gene and has reduced the growth of cancer-cell colonies.
