Thursday 13 June 2013

IU researcher, collaborator identify genetic risk for cancer in breast cells

David Gilley, Ph.D., associate professor of medical and molecular genetics at the IU School of Medicine and a researcher at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center, and Connie Eaves, Ph.D., of the Terry Fox Laboratory, BC Cancer Agency in Vancouver, Canada, identified a rare and critical subset of normal human breast cells, luminal progenitors, that possess extremely short chromosome ends known as telomeres. Dr. Gilley said the telomere’s lengths in the luminal progenitors that were studied are “dangerously short,” leaving the ends of the chromosomes unprotected and potentially leading to the development of breast cancer. Read more here.

Study mentioned: Kannan N, et al. The Luminal Progenitor Compartment of the Normal Human Mammary Gland Constitutes a Unique Site of Telomere Dysfunction. Stem Cell Reports. 2013; 1(1):28-37.

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