Complexity Digest 2003.13 - 15
31-Mar-2003
Genetic Mechanism Of Disease Is Discovered, Science Daily
Excerpts: In the process of figuring out why an anti-cancer drug is effective in treating patients with a rare blood disorder known as hypereosinophilic syndrome, or HES, researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have shown that the condition may in fact be a form of cancer.(...) "Our research addresses the question of why patients with HES respond so well to imatinib," said Gary Gilliland, MD, PhD, of BWH, who is senior author of the paper with Stone. "We have shown that a small deletion of DNA in the blood cells of HES patients fuses two genes together, creating a novel cancer-causing gene that is inhibited by imatinib. This fusion explains the clinical response these patients have to imatinib, and demonstrates that HES is a form of cancer."
- Source: Rare Blood Disease Shown To Be A Form Of Treatable Cancer; Genetic Mechanism Of Disease Is Discovered
[ http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/03/030327075401.htm ], Science Daily, 2003-03-27 - Contributed by Nadia Gershenson - nadia
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