Scientists move in on genes conferring susceptibility, resistance...( UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center res...)

UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers have identified genetic regions in mice that confer susceptibility and resistance to a human-like skin cancer, suggesting, they say, that mouse studies may reveal genetic markers of susceptibility and resistance to cancer in humans.

The researchers also determined that several of the regions discovered are associated with survival time once cancer has developed -- the first such regions ever reported.

The findings will be presented at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting on Wednesday (April 5) in San Francisco. Some of the findings were published in December in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

The mice used in the UCSF study developed cancer the way humans do -- the tumors arose at the normally occurring site of the disease and had genetic alterations similar to those seen in human tumors. In contrast, in traditional mouse models of cancer, a malignant tumor that has been grown for years in culture is implanted under the skin of an immunodeficient mouse.

"These new models mimic natural conditions of cancer," says the senior author of the study, Allan Balmain, PhD, UCSF professor of biochemistry. "They reflect the growth rate of the tumor, the ability of the tumor to spread and metastasize -- they reflect everything you would see in humans."

Balmain's research program is part of a new consortium for studies of mouse models of tumors that recently received support from the National Cancer Institute. Three other UCSF research programs, as well as those at 15 other institutions, are also involved.

The identification of similar genetic markers in humans could directly impact the screening and assessment of cancers in humans. "Accurate prediction of tumor growth rate and survival time would be enormously beneficial in determining patient-specific treatment modalities, and could spare some patients surgery and many patients unnecessarily har
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Contact: Jennifer O'Brien
jobrien@pubaff.ucsf.edu
415-476-2557
University of California - San Francisco
3-Apr-2000