Gene blocks pancreatic cancer spread

The gene, called USP9x is found in all normal cells but goes missing in some aggressive forms of pancreatic cancers.

“We looked in human tumor specimens and we found that it was missing in a fraction of patients – the patients that did very poorly… the people who died the fastest,” said researcher David Tuveson.

“Patients that had a low level of the gene expressed… they died very quickly after their operation and the patients who at the end of their life had lots of metastasis [spreading of the cancer], they had also a very low level of this protein,” he added.

Three other pancreatic cancer suppressor genes have been found so far, but the newly discovered gene is the first one involved in inhibiting the metastatic of the tumor.

Researchers hope that future studies on USP9x can lead to development of new drugs that boost the treatment of deadly forms of pancreatic cancer by activating that gene.

SJM/TE

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