DNA tagged posts
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...
Read MoreL1 elements can uproot themselves and move to new areas in the DNA, sometimes accidentally moving into genes that control the cell’s growth. This happened around 100X in each tumour sample, and in some tumours it happened 700X. Cambridge Uni scientists used cutting-edge technology that can read DNA to study the genes of 43 esophageal tumour and blood samples to discover how much these mobile genetic sequences travel.
If a jumping gene lands in or near an important gene that controls cell growth, it can wreak havoc, changing how the gene works so that it inadvertently tells the cell to grow and divide out of control – which could lead to cancer. “Research has shown that this might also happen in lung and bowel cancers...
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