ADAR1 tagged posts

Researchers find out Cause of Mutations Not in Genetic Material

Lung cancer cell, ADAR1 extra copies of the gene are shown in green. In red the two normal copies of a control gene. Credit: IDIBELL

Lung cancer cell, ADAR1 extra copies of the gene are shown in green. In red the two normal copies of a control gene. Credit: IDIBELL

In human diseases, eventually DNA alterations modify proteins and they don’t do their normal function, either by excess or defect. But recently we have started to find alterations of proteins without an obvious damage of the gene that produces them. Manel Esteller, director of Epigenetics and Cancer Biology Program of the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), ICREA researcher and Professor of Genetics at the University of Barcelona provides an explanation for this phenomenon: existence of alterations in an intermediate molecule (RNA) which transfers the information contained in the DNA to protein.

“We found that 5-10% of lung tumors, instead of h...

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