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Date Submitted:
12/11/07
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Cancer-Suppressing Gene Tied to Female Fertility
Description:
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 28 (HealthDay News) - A gene long linked to suppressing the growth of cancer may also play a vital role in human reproduction, researchers report.
In experiments with mice, researchers found that females lacking the p53 gene had fewer embryos implanted in the uterus, less chance of becoming pregnant, and when they did conceive, they had fewer offspring. A lack of p53 did not affect the fertility of male mice, however. "This is an amazing new function for a gene that everybody thought they knew what it did," said lead researcher Arnold J. Levine, a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, in Princeton, N.J. "This is a gene that is not only watching over us so that we cannot get cancer, but it watches over our genome so that we can develop normally," he added. The report appears in the Nov. 29 issue of Nature. The p53 gene responds to a variety of stresses, such as radiation damage, in ways that allow it to protect cells against cancer, Levine explained. Read the Complete Article Similar content: Gene Variant Tied to More Aggressive Prostate Cancer, in Prostate Cancer Revolutionary New Therapy To Protect Fertility In Cancer Patients, in Diabetes Gene Mutation Tied to Autism, in Autism Gene Tied to Post-Op Delirium in Elderly, in Alzheimers Prostate Cancer Gene Also Raises Colon Cancer Risk, in Prostate Cancer |
