Researchers Pinpoint Place Where Cancer Cells May Begin
Wednesday, January 20, 2016 - 17:20
in Biology & Nature
Cancer cells are normal cells that go awry by making bad developmental decisions. In a study involving the fruit fly equivalent of an oncogene implicated in many human leukemias, a Northwestern University research team has gained insight into how developing cells normally switch to a restricted, or specialized, state and how that process might go wrong in cancer. The researchers were surprised to discover that levels of an important protein start fluctuating wildly in cells during this transition period. If the levels don't or can't fluctuate, the cell doesn't switch and move forward.