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Aging News & Information
Genes Identified that Both Extend Life and Protect
Against Cancer
A person is 100 times more likely to get cancer at
age 65 than at age 35
 Oct. 16, 2007 - A person is 100 times more likely
to get cancer at age 65 than at age 35. But new research reported
yesterday in the journal “Nature Genetics” identifies naturally
occurring processes that allow many genes to both slow aging and protect
against cancer in the much-studied C. elegans roundworm.
Many of the worm genes have counterparts in humans,
suggesting that new drugs may some day ensure a long, cancer-free life.
The new research and a related study the scientists reported in
“Science” last year indicate that cellular changes leading to longevity
antagonize tumor cell growth.
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Aging News & Information |
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The studies are by scientists at the University of
California, San Francisco, who say the research also underscores the
deep evolutionary connection between lifespan and cancer.
The worms, known formally as Caenorhabditis elegans,
were the stars of a startling 1993 discovery by UCSF biologist Cynthia
Kenyon, PhD. She found then that a change in just one gene, called
daf-2, doubled the worms’ lifespan.
This finding led to the understanding that lifespan
is regulated by genes and is therefore changeable, rather than the
inevitable result of the body’s breakdown. The discovery in worms has
been confirmed in other animals including mice.
The new research by Kenyon and graduate student
Julie Pinkston is reported in the advanced online edition of the
journal.
Kenyon is the American Cancer Society Professor and
director of the Hillblom Center for the Biology of Aging at UCSF.
“This is very exciting,” Kenyon said. “There is a
widely held view that any mechanism that slows aging would probably
stimulate tumor growth.
“But we found many genes that increase lifespan,
but slow tumor growth. Humans have versions of many of these genes, so
this work may lead to treatments that keep us youthful and cancer-free
much longer than normal.”
Since her early finding that the gene daf-2 and
another gene known as daf-16 regulate lifespan, Kenyon’s research team
has hoped to identify the genes that they in turn affect -- those that
more directly affect aging and tumor growth.
“Now we are really getting there,” Kenyon said.
The gene daf-2 codes for a receptor for insulin and
also for an insulin-like protein that promotes growth. It influences
daf-16, which makes a so-called transcription factor – a protein that
determines when and where hundreds of other genes are turned on.
The focus of the new study was to identify specific
genes regulated by daf-16 which affect cancer and/or lifespan.
The scientists used an established tumor model in
the worms. Then, starting with a list of 734 genes known to be targets
of daf-16, they identified 29 genes that either promote or suppress
tumor cell growth.
They did this using several techniques, including RNA
interference or RNAi, a powerful tool that allows scientists to control
the expression of just one kind of gene at a time.
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The
worms used in the research in this story are
playing a leading role in the fight against cancer. See
story below from last year. |
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Tiny Worm is Newest Weapon to Discover
Cancer-Causing Compounds in Household Products
Helps detect virtually any potential cancer-causing
chemical
June 21, 2006 – A little worm has enabled scientist
to detect action that blocks "cell suicide," and causes chemical
compounds in household products, like mothballs and air fresheners, to
become possible cancer-causing agents.
Read
more...
|
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About half of the genes stimulated tumor growth and
half suppressed it, they found. Strikingly, about half of these genes
also affect lifespan in animals that do not have tumors, further
strengthening the model Kenyon and others have conceived in which the
insulin receptor, daf-2, works in concert with the transcription factor
daf-16 to link longevity and tumor resistance.
The “downstream” genes appear to act in a
cumulative way, they found.
The genes that stimulated tumor growth also
accelerated aging itself, and the genes that prevented tumor growth
slowed down the aging process and extended lifespan. These findings
greatly strengthen the view that the controls of lifespan and cancer
have deep, common roots, Kenyon and Pinkston conclude.
Editor’s Notes
The research was funded by the National Institutes
of Health.
UCSF is a leading university that advances health
worldwide by conducting advanced biomedical research, educating graduate
students in the life sciences and health professions, and providing
complex patient care.
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