"Jumping gene" called sleeping beauty reveals new hope in understanding Pancreatic Cancer
The "jumping gene" Sleeping Beauty has been used in mice to identify which genes usually act to protect against pancreatic cancer. The sleeping beauty gene can jump within parts of the DNA, when it lands in a region controlling gene activity it affects the way it works. Scientists therefore looked at which genes were disturbed in the mice which developed pancreatic cancer more quickly. Through this they identified a gene, USP9X, which hasn't been identified as a playing in pancreatic cancer previously. This study shows that this gene may act as to slow down the growth of a pancreatic cancer. To find out more about what was found you can read the full article, The deubiquitinase USP9X suppresses pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma or look at Cancer Research UK Science Update Blog.
