Study indicates genes to control prostate cancer

Research led by Professor Johanna Ivaska (University of Turku and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland) and his scientific team have discovered genetic mechanisms that can inhibit the spread of prostate cancer following a study* in which prostate cancers were screened using gene silencing.

The report shows that cancer cell adhesive activity, which is easy to measure in a laboratory setting, is directly linked to the ability of the cancer cells to metastasise. As a result, screening for regulators of cancer cell activity can lead to the discovery of new candidates for pharmaceutical development. Dozens of new regulators of cancer cell activity were described; employing gene silencing mechanisms on two of these regulators (CD9 and MMP8) was found to have a direct impact on the spreading of cancer cells.

Team researchers Teijo Pellinen and Juha Rantala utilised the cell spot micro array technology developed by VTT which allows researchers to study the impacts of all genes in an entire genome in a single experiment.

*Journal of Cell Science.

Ref: Pellinen T, Rantala JK, Arjonen A, Mpindi JP, Kallioniemi O, Ivaska J. J Cell Sci. 2012 Feb 1;125(Pt 3):649-61. A functional genetic screen reveals new regulators of 1-integrin activity. <http://media.ne.cision.com/l/vqokczil/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22389402>