Scientists discover gene that can turn off leukaemia stem cells

A gene, known simply as Brg1, is a key regulator of leukaemia stem cells that cause the disease according to researchers at the Institute of Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) of University de Montreal, Canada. 'When we removed the Brg1 gene, the leukaemia stem cells were unable to divide, survive and make new tumours. In other words, the cancer was permanently shut down,' claimed Julie Lessard, principal investigator and her colleagues at IRIC.

The most common problem with targeting cancer stem cells is that healthy cells get targeted as well. 'Strikingly, the Brg1 gene is dispensable for the function of normal blood stem cells - making it a promising therapeutic target in leukaemia treatment,' explained Pierre Thibault, principal investigator at IRIC and co-author. 'The next step would be to develop a small-molecule inhibitor to successfully block Brg1 function in leukaemia, thus demonstrating the clinical relevance of this discovery,' noted Guy Sauvageau, principal investigator at IRIC.

Now the group is trying to identify drugs which will be able to disarm this Brg1 gene, thereby stopping leukaemia stem cells from generating malignant cells. Also cancer stem cells tend to be more resistant to radiotherapy and chemotherapy than most other tumours and are often responsible for cancer relapse. The study appeared in the scientific journal Blood.

What is leukaemia?

When there is uncontrolled and/or abnormal growth of infection fighting white blood cells, it results in a type of cancer called leukaemia or commonly called 'blood cancer'. Leukaemia is classified into Acute Lymphoblastic (ALL), Acute Myeloid (AML), Chronic Lymphoblastic (CLL) and Chronic Myeloid (CML). 'Acute' leukaemia is an aggressive cancer which affects children and older people over 65 years or age whereas 'chronic' leukaemia affects adults and takes months or even years to develop. Depending on the kind of cells that are affected, leukaemia is classified into 'myeloid' and 'lymphoblastic'. Read more...

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