Mitochondria genes may influence cancer risk.People with cancers of the kidney or prostate are more likely to have a certain genetic variant in the mitochondria within their cells than are people without these malignancies. The discovery might offer a way to identify people at highest risk of developing these cancers, says John A. Petros of Emory University in Atlanta. Mitochondria, which are the energy powerhouses in cells, have their own genes. Petros and his colleagues looked at tumor cells from 121 kidney cancer Kidney Cancer Definition Kidney cancer is a disease in which the cells in certain tissues of the kidney start to grow uncontrollably and form tumors. patients and 221 prostate cancer prostate cancer, cancer originating in the prostate gland. Prostate cancer is the leading malignancy in men in the United States and is second only to lung cancer as a cause of cancer death in men. patients and compared their mitochondrial DNA with that of 246 people without cancer. The team found that mitochondria with genetic features designated as haplotype haplotype /hap·lo·type/ (-tip) the group of alleles of linked genes, e.g., the HLA complex, contributed by either parent; the haploid genetic constitution contributed by either parent. hap·lo·type n. U, which is present in 9 percent of whites in the United States, were about twice as likely to appear in the cancer patients as in the controls. Petros suspects that the mitochondrial mitochondrial pertaining to mitochondria. mitochondrial RNAs a unique set of tRNAs, mRNAs, rRNAs, transcribed from mitochondrial DNA by a mitochondrial-specific RNA polymerase, that account for about 4% of the total cell RNA that proteins encoded by these variant genes somehow thwart programmed cell death pro·grammed cell death n. See apoptosis. programmed cell death proposed system of cell death, often including poly(ADP)-ribosylation, ensures that a cell will not survive if it is so badly damaged that its recovery would harm the , a cancer-suppressing mechanism.--N.S. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion