Solving a 100-year-old genetic puzzle, researchers at the UC San Diego School of Medicine and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research have determined that the same genetic mechanism that drives tumor growth can also act as a tumor suppressor. Their findings could lead to new drug targets for cancer therapies.

In a study published in the January 1 issue of Cancer Cell, Don Cleveland, Ph.D., UCSD Professor of Medicine, Neurosciences and Cellular and Molecular Medicine and member of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, looked at a common characteristic of cancer cells called aneuploidy. Aneuploidy – the occurrence of one or more extra or missing chromosomes – was first proposed as the cause of cancerous tumors nearly a century ago by German biologist Theodor Boveri, but his hypothesis had remained unproven.

The researchers hope that, in the future, they can develop what they are calling “aneuploidy therapy.” Drugs that inhibit accurate delivery of the right number of chromosomes to each new cell, resulting in aneuploidy, would be used to destroy tumors caused by mutations in the tumor suppressors.

“This study opens up a whole series of potential therapeutic targets for cancer,” said Beth A.A. Weaver, of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and UCSD Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, the study’s first author. “By increasing the level of genetic damage, we can kill those tumor cells.”

Posted on January 28, 2007 02:52 PM