tumors tagged posts

The green-labelled cells show a basal cell carcinoma in mouse tail epidermis derived from a single mutant stem cell and expanding out of the normal epidermis stained in red. Credit: Adriana Sánchez-Danés

Scientists have identified for the first time the ‘cell of origin’ – in ie the first cell from which the cancer grows – in basal cell carcinoma, the most common form of skin cancer, and followed the chain of events that lead to the growth of these invasive tumours. Our skin is kept healthy by a constant turnover. The process is maintained by ‘progenitor’ cells – the progeny of stem cells – that divide and ‘differentiate’ into fully-functional skin cells to replenish dying skin...

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...