New RNA interference technique finds seven genes for head and neck cancer
Monday, February 17, 2014 - 15:01
in Biology & Nature
In the hunt for genetic mutations that cause cancer, there is a lot of white noise. So although genetic sequencing has identified hundreds of genetic alterations linked to tumors, it's still an enormous challenge to figure out which ones are actually responsible for the growth and metastasis of cancer. Scientists have now created a new technique that can weed out that noise -- eliminating the random bystander genes and identifying the ones that are critical for cancer. Applying their technique to head and neck cancers, they've discovered seven new tumor-suppressor genes whose role in cancer was previously unknown.