A report published in the November 14 Cell has revealed 13 new tumor suppressor genes, 12 of which have never previously been linked to cancer.

The researchers used an interesting combination of technologies to arrive at their results. Viz:

• First, they identified genes recurrently deleted in 100 human livers cancers, resulting in 362 candidates
• Then, they created short-hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) corresponding to 300 murine (mouse) analogues of these genes
• They then used the shRNAs to silence these 300 genes in mice and looked at the results

This process quickly identified 13 genes that, when silenced, could lead to cancer.

Interestingly, it was discovered that these tumor-suppressor genes were located near each other on the genome, and were often multiply-deleted as a result. Because there are so many tumor-suppressors, their deletion and various combinations of deletion are probably responsible for the heterogeneity of liver cancers and by extension the difficulty in treating them.

The researchers intend to extend this technique to other kinds of cancers too.

In my opinion, this is an important step forward in the field of cancer research.

Thanks again, Eurekalert!