"We discovered that tumors expressing these two genes displayed much worse clinical outcomes. 
This is remarkable given that it's based on [just] the activity of two genes," said study senior author Dr. Antonio Iavarone, an associate professor of neurology at Columbia University Medical Center's Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center in New York City. "These researchers have identified two transcription factors that appear to be causative. They're not just markers. They appear to actually cause the tumor," added Dr. Todd Waldman, an associate professor of oncology at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, D.C. "For brain tumors, it's very exciting because it helps to explain why they are so devastatingly infiltrative."
Zeroing in on such specific targets brings the possibility of new therapies closer to the realm of reality.
"We are now trying to identify new compounds to block the function of the proteins," added Iavarone. "Some may be already available in the chemical library. We're in good shape because we know what we want to find, we know what the drug should do."
Glioblastomas multiforme -- dubbed "The Terminator" by one group of researchers -- are devastating because they so easily and quickly invade healthy brain tissue surrounding the tumor.
Scientists have been trying without huge success to understand why these tumors are so wildly aggressive. Iavarone and colleagues determined that each of these newly identified genes -- C/EPB and Stat3 -- caused little damage on their own but, in tandem, wreaked havoc by switching on hundreds of other genes. After almost a year, all patients in the study who had both genes turned on had died versus only one-half of those who had different types of tumors.
Face looking old? Don't blame your genes
NEW YORK – Don't blame genes for aging facial skin. A new study of twins suggests you can blame those coarse wrinkles, brown or pink spots, and dilated blood vessels on too much time in the sun, smoking, and being overweight.
Because twins share genes, but may have different exposures to environmental factors, studying twins allows an, "opportunity to control for genetic susceptibility," Dr. Elma D. Baron, at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio, and colleagues explain in the latest issue of Archives of Dermatology.
Their analysis of environmental skin-damaging factors in 65 pairs of twins hints that skin aging is related more to environment and lifestyle than genetic factors. But when it comes to skin cancer, the researchers say their findings support previous reports that both environment and genes affect skin cancer risk. Baron's team examined facial skin of 130 twins, 18 to 77 years old, who lived mostly in the northern Midwest and Eastern regions of the U.S. who were attending the Twins Days Festival in Ohio in August 2002.
At this time, each of the twins also separately reported how their skin burned or tanned without sunscreen, their weight, and their history of skin cancer, smoking, and alcohol drinking.The study group consisted of 52 fraternal and 10 identical twin pairs, plus 3 pairs who were unsure of their twin status. Identical twins share all of their genes and fraternal twins share only about half.
From these data, the researchers noted strong ties, outside of twin status, between smoking, older age, and being overweight, and having facial skin with evidence of environmental damage. By contrast, sunscreen use and drinking alcohol appeared correlated with lesser skin damage.
This is remarkable given that it's based on [just] the activity of two genes," said study senior author Dr. Antonio Iavarone, an associate professor of neurology at Columbia University Medical Center's Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center in New York City. "These researchers have identified two transcription factors that appear to be causative. They're not just markers. They appear to actually cause the tumor," added Dr. Todd Waldman, an associate professor of oncology at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, D.C. "For brain tumors, it's very exciting because it helps to explain why they are so devastatingly infiltrative."Zeroing in on such specific targets brings the possibility of new therapies closer to the realm of reality.
"We are now trying to identify new compounds to block the function of the proteins," added Iavarone. "Some may be already available in the chemical library. We're in good shape because we know what we want to find, we know what the drug should do."
Glioblastomas multiforme -- dubbed "The Terminator" by one group of researchers -- are devastating because they so easily and quickly invade healthy brain tissue surrounding the tumor.
Scientists have been trying without huge success to understand why these tumors are so wildly aggressive. Iavarone and colleagues determined that each of these newly identified genes -- C/EPB and Stat3 -- caused little damage on their own but, in tandem, wreaked havoc by switching on hundreds of other genes. After almost a year, all patients in the study who had both genes turned on had died versus only one-half of those who had different types of tumors.
Face looking old? Don't blame your genes
NEW YORK – Don't blame genes for aging facial skin. A new study of twins suggests you can blame those coarse wrinkles, brown or pink spots, and dilated blood vessels on too much time in the sun, smoking, and being overweight.
Because twins share genes, but may have different exposures to environmental factors, studying twins allows an, "opportunity to control for genetic susceptibility," Dr. Elma D. Baron, at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio, and colleagues explain in the latest issue of Archives of Dermatology.
Their analysis of environmental skin-damaging factors in 65 pairs of twins hints that skin aging is related more to environment and lifestyle than genetic factors. But when it comes to skin cancer, the researchers say their findings support previous reports that both environment and genes affect skin cancer risk. Baron's team examined facial skin of 130 twins, 18 to 77 years old, who lived mostly in the northern Midwest and Eastern regions of the U.S. who were attending the Twins Days Festival in Ohio in August 2002.
At this time, each of the twins also separately reported how their skin burned or tanned without sunscreen, their weight, and their history of skin cancer, smoking, and alcohol drinking.The study group consisted of 52 fraternal and 10 identical twin pairs, plus 3 pairs who were unsure of their twin status. Identical twins share all of their genes and fraternal twins share only about half.
From these data, the researchers noted strong ties, outside of twin status, between smoking, older age, and being overweight, and having facial skin with evidence of environmental damage. By contrast, sunscreen use and drinking alcohol appeared correlated with lesser skin damage.
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