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Mutated Gene Causes Pancreatic Cancer

Posted on: Thursday, 14 December 2006, 09:00 CST

U.S.-led scientists have found a mutated form of the gene Palladin causes familial pancreatic cancer, perhaps explaining why the disease is so deadly.

Researchers, led by Dr. Teri Brentnall, a University of Washington associate professor of medicine, said pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths overall, and third-leading cause of cancer deaths for people aged 40 to 60 years in the United States.

Most people with the disease die within a year of diagnosis; about 95 percent of the remainder of patients die within five years. Researchers estimate at least 10 percent of all pancreatic cancer cases are inherited.

The discovery also reveals the Palladin gene behaves abnormally in both the hereditary and non-hereditary, or sporadic, forms of pancreatic cancer. In the case of pancreatic cancer, Brentnall said a mutation in Palladin allows the cell to move much more quickly than normal, essentially invading the surrounding, healthy tissue.

Other team members included researchers from the universities of Pittsburgh and North Carolina at Chapel Hill; the Cleveland Clinic; and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry.

The study appears in the journal PLoS Medicine.

Source: United Press International

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