Researchers from Johns Hopkins and Ohio State University found that mice with extra copies of chromosome 21 as is seen in trisomy 21, or Down syndrome, had fewer tumors than regular mice.

"We took a new approach to a 50-year-old debate about whether people with Down syndrome develop cancer less often than other people," Roger H. Reeves, a professor at Johns Hopkins said Friday in a release.

The research, published in the journal Nature, focused on the Ets2 gene.

"These results support studies concluding that people with Down syndrome get fewer cancers of many types. While we've only shown this effect with Ets2 and a particular type of colon tumor in mice, we think that the human Ets2 gene might contribute to resistance toward other types of cancer, based on what happens in Down syndrome," Reeves said.

Ohio State cancer researcher Michael Ostrowski said the study suggested finding ways to increase the expression of genes such as Ets2 might lead to a new strategy for treating or controlling cancer.

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