Apples for Health- Certain gene defects lead to breast cancer

Certain gene defects lead to breast cancer

CHAPEL HILL, N.C., May 18 (UPI) -- U.S. cancer researchers say they've determined that defects in a specific gene might eventually lead to breast cancer.

Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said cancer is a disease of runaway cell proliferation. Normally, a variety of genes coordinate to keep cell growth under control and on track, but if a gene goes awry another can compensate to keep cancer from developing.

However, in the case of a gene called p18, the scientists discovered its defects can override other gene's attempts at compensation.

"This gene is an inhibitor of cell proliferation -- essentially, it is the brakes that keeps the cell from growing out of control," Professor Yue Xiong said.

"If the brakes aren't working, the cell will not be able to stop when it needs to and instead will continue to grow and divide until it turns into cancer."

The study that included Associate Professor Charles Perou and researchers Xin-Hai Pei, Dr Feng Bai, Matthew Smith, Jerry Usary and Cheng Fan is reported in the journal Cancer Cell.