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Gene discovery leads to first
mouse model of prostate cancer
NEW YORK -- Jan. 30, 2001-- For the first
time, scientists have shown that alterations in two genes associated with prostate
cancer in humans, always cause prostate cancer in mice, resulting
in the first mouse model of the disease and opening up new lines
of research.
The laboratory team led by Dr. Pier Paolo
Pandolfi at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) showed
that inactivation of just one copy of a gene called PTEN and
both copies of a gene called p27 leads to prostate cancer in
mice 100 percent of the time. Mutated copies of the PTEN gene
are frequently found in human prostate cancer. They reported
the development in the February issue of Nature Genetics.
Pandolfi says that the significance of the
finding is that scientists now have a mouse model for prostate
cancer in which the tumors have the same features as prostate
tumors in humans. These mutations provide insight into genetic
variations that may lead to more severe forms of the disease
in humans.
Having this model will lead to better methods
for testing potential new drugs to fight the disease, says Pandolfi,
head of the Molecular and Developmental Biology Laboratory at
Memorial Sloan-Kettering.
Colleagues at MSKCC had previously found that
loss of the p27 protein in men led to a higher rate of recurrence
for prostate cancer and a poorer long-term survival. The new
finding may allow doctors to eventually refine their diagnosis
and treatment of tumor types in men.
The laboratory team's next steps are to determine
if these gene mutations affect humans in the same way they affect
mice, and if they do, to develop tests for these gene mutations.
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