Scientists at the University of Minnesota have discovered 32 new genes linked to cancer thanks to a technique developed at the university called the Sleeping Beauty method.
Researchers figured out how to wake up sleeping genes and use them to find other genes that cause cancer.
U of M Masonic Cancer Center geneticist David Largaespada, PhD says it "may be shocking to people to realize that actually there are segments of DNA in our genome that can jump. We call them jumping genes or transposons."
Those jumping genes, which had been inactive due to evolution for millions of years, are now jumping around cells from mice and have helped U of M scientists locate the 17 new genes that cause colorectal cancer and the 15 new genes that lead to liver cancer.
Largaespada says, "When it jumps it may land near and affect the cancer gene, trigger a tumor, then all we have to do in the lab is take the tumor DNA and look for where the transponson landed."
Largaespada led the research along with Tim Starr and Vincent Keng. Articles are published in the scientific journals Science and Nature Biotechnology.
According to Largaespada, the Sleeping Beauty method is, "very significant because we think we could use this method to discover more cancer genes."
There are still many cancer causing genes to find. They include genes we inherit and genes that mutate due to external factors and cause cancer. But Largaespada believes geneticists can find them all. He says, "We'll probably find them all in the next 5 to 10 years."
He says cancer is much more complicated genetically than once thought. By identifying cancer causing genes, Largaespada says it will awaken a new era where cancer will be treated with much more tailored therapies. He says while right now cancer is treated with two to four drugs, in the future, he sees each tumor being treated with different combinations of as many as fifteen drugs.
He says, "We can already see the cracks start to form in the fortress that is cancer."
The Sleeping Beauty method was originally developed by U of M researchers in 1997 who were working to create bigger fish. It was Largaespada and his colleagues who then used the method to locate cancer genes.
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