Molecule Implicated In Leukemia Also Important In Muscle Repair

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - 14:28 in Biology & Nature

Researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center have discovered that a molecule implicated in leukemia and lung cancer is also important in muscle repair and in a muscle cancer that strikes mainly children.  The study shows that immature muscle cells require the molecule, called miR-29, to become mature, and that the molecule is nearly missing in cells from rhabdomyosarcoma, a cancer caused by the proliferation of immature muscle cells.  Cells from human rhabdomyosarcoma tumors showed levels of the molecule that were 10 percent or less of those in normal muscle cells. Artificially raising the level of the molecule in the cancer cells cut their growth by half and caused them to begin maturing, slowing down tumor growth. read more

Read the whole article on Scientific Blogging

More from Scientific Blogging

Related

Latest Science Newsletter

Get the latest and most popular science news articles of the week in your Inbox!