Gene might control breast cells

Estimated read time: Less than a minute

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

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.