BRCA1 Research Update
Researchers have known for years that women with BRCA1 gene mutations were at high risk for breast cancer. What they haven’t known is how or why that is the case.
But now, researchers have observed that mutations in the BRCA1 breast cancer seem to be linked with the loss of a protein that impedes cell growth. A collaborative team at Columbia with Sweden’s Lund University have found that a mutated BRCA1 gene can leave cells “incapable of repairing routine DNA damage. When such damage occurs in a protein called PTEN, which regulates the growth of cells, cell growth is unchecked and tumors form.”
Their job now is to take this a step further … how can they pharmacologically or biologically increase that protein and/or repair that DNA damage to prevent those tumors from growing?
I find this particular research study so inspiring — but there are other research studies (like this one) also getting us closer to a cure. Thank you, thank you, for all your hard work!
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