MONDAY, Jan. 20, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- A new breast cancer gene discovered by scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) may help researchers diagnose the disease in its early stages and treat it more effectively.
The new gene, found in breast cancer cells and in normal salivary glands, is named BASE (Breast Cancer And Salivary Gland Expression), says Kristi A. Egland, a postdoctoral fellow at the NIH and lead author of the report, published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"We have identified the RNA and the gene that encodes the protein for BASE," says senior author Dr. Ira Pastan, of the NIH's Laboratory of Molecular Biology. "The next step is to make an antibody to detect the protein. That is what Kristi is working on now."
The hope is that an antibody can be developed that could detect the protein in the bloodstream. If so, that could prove to be a way to detect breast cancer in the early stages. Researchers also hope to make a vaccine to kill these cells that make the unique protein, Pastan says.
"Everyone has this gene," Pastan explains. However, the protein made by the gene is secreted only by breast cancer and salivary gland cells. "In 30 or 40 percent of breast cancers [as shown in their laboratory studies], the gene is active and appears to make a protein that is secreted," Pastan says.
The discovery adds to a body of literature about genes and breast cancer. For several years, scientists have known that about 5 percent to 10 percent of breast cancer cases are thought to be caused by inherited genetic mutations in two breast cancer genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2.
The genes code for proteins that have tumor suppressor capabilities, but in women who have mutations in these genes, the protein is abnormal and doesn't suppress the tumors. A blood test can detect these mutations.
"Our goal is to find genes that make proteins that are only expressed from, in this case, breast cancer cells and not essential tissues such as brain, liver and kidney," Egland says. "Then, breast cancer-specific proteins can be used as diagnostic markers [such as in a blood test] and as targets for drugs to kill only breast cancer cells."
Another expert, Dr. John Glaspy, says the research is another example of what modern DNA technology and techniques can help scientists do.
"Modern DNA techniques will help scientists sort through huge amounts of information and find differences in normal and malignant cells," says Glaspy, a professor of medicine at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center in Los Angeles. Those discoveries, in turn, can allow them to design markers for early detection of cancers.
The search for the "magic bullet" to thwart cancer cells is made more difficult, Glaspy says, "because cancer cells are not that different from normal cells."
More information
For more on BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, see Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. For more on breast cancer, visit the American Cancer Society.
