A new gene dubbed Pokemon (POK Erythroid Myeloid Ontogenic) has been discovered by scientists that lead normal cells to become cancerous.
Scientists believe that the new cancer-causing gene could be a molecular master switch for the disease. They said it is one of several so-called oncogenes that lead normal cells to become cancerous.
“Pokémon is a main switch in the molecular network that leads towards cancer,” said lead researcher Dr. Pier Paolo Pandolfi, of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
“If we could turn Pokémon off, it may block the oncogenic circuitry and stall the malignant process,” Dr. Pandolfi said.
Cancer develops when normal cells mutate and divide uncontrollably to form a tumour. When oncogenes do not functional well, they can lead normal cells to turn cancerous.
But in animal studies, the scientists discovered that the Pokémon protein interferes with the action of other proteins, including a tumour suppressor called ARF.
“What is extraordinary about this gene is that it is essential for the function of the other oncogenes. It is a main switch of this network of oncogenes that control (cell) transformation. None of the oncogenes so far identified play such a critical role,” Dr. Pandolfi explained.
Pandolfi and his team believes that the protein produced by the gene could be a new target for drug therapies against cancer which kills more than 6 million people each year.
