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SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 30, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- U.S. scientists say they have discovered an unsuspected role for a gene known to be one of the best predictors of human breast cancer outcome.
The gene, called GATA-3, is in a family of genes that guides development of stem cells into mature cells. Now University of California-San Francisco researchers have determined GATA-3 is also required for mature mammary cells to remain mature in the adult.
The scientists discovered that without GATA-3, mature cells revert to a less specialized, "undifferentiated" state characteristic of aggressive cancer. That, they said, suggests the gene might play a key role in the development of breast cancer.
"Perhaps the loss of GATA-3 and subsequent failure to maintain this mature state is what leads to loss of differentiation during cancer progression," said Hosein Kouros-Mehr, a UCSF medical student and lead author of the study. "The finding suggests the differentiation, or maturity, of cells is a process that must be actively maintained throughout the lifetime of an organism."
The study appears in the Dec. 1 issue of the journal Cell.
URL: www.upi.com Copyright 2006 by United Press International
