Breast Cancer Treatment found by Studying Downs Syndrome
As individuals with Downs Syndrome have begun to live longer and healthier lives as a result of advances in their medical care, researchers have noticed that they have a significantly lower rate of certain cancers. Of specific interest, was the fact that women with Downs Syndrome are 10 to 25 times less likely to receive a diagnosis of breast cancer than women in the general population.
Once this observation was made, scientists began to wonder if people with Downs Syndrome got an extra copy of some unknown tumor suppressor genes on their extra chromosome 21 that could potentially function as a breast cancer treatment. New research shows that a gene called Single-minded 2 (SIM2), which is thought to play a role in preventing neurons in the brain from growing in people with Downs Syndrome, may also prevent breast cancer cells from growing too rapidly and developing into tumors.
An examination of breast tumor cells has shown that SIM2 is lost or its expression is suppressed in most breast cancers. Scientists have also shown that removing the SIM2 gene from mice causes them to grow tumors rapidly. We still need a better understanding of exactly how SIM2 works, to determine how a gene that causes abnormal brain development in Downs Syndrome can also be such a potent regulator of breast tumor growth.
Hopefully, better understanding of how SIM2 works, will lead to the development of better therapies for breast cancer using the SIM2 gene product.
Reference: H Kwakt, T Gustafson, R Metz, B Laffin, P Schedin and W Porter. Inhibition of breast cancer growth and invasion by single-minded 2s. Carcinogenesis. 2007 28(2):259-266.
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