Italian researchers have identified a gene that plays a key role in the formation of blood cells that feed kidney tumours .
The gene, called Pax2, plays a positive role in the development of children’s kidneys but can lead to cancer in adults if it is switched on by mistake, said Turin University researcher Benedetta Bussolati .
The team showed that the walls of key blood vessels were not benign, but malign. Thus, hopes of treating blood vessels have drawn a blank, said Bussolati.
However, if the Pax2 gene is turned off, the blood vessels that feed renal cancer show a “significant” tendency to decay naturally and die .
“We have been studying the cell walls of renal tumours for some time and trying to create new pharmacological approaches to block the gene” Bussolati said .
The role of Pax2 is certainly interesting and it could be a target for much more effective therapy.
Link [ansa.it/main/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2006-02-28_971004.html]
Filed under Health, Kidney
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