{"id":2493,"date":"2014-07-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-17T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vermont.salk.edu\/news-release\/new-gene-discovered-that-stops-the-spread-of-deadly-cancer\/"},"modified":"2014-07-17T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-07-17T07:00:00","slug":"new-gene-discovered-that-stops-the-spread-of-deadly-cancer","status":"publish","type":"disclosure","link":"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/es\/news-release\/new-gene-discovered-that-stops-the-spread-of-deadly-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"New gene discovered that stops the spread of deadly cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nLA JOLLA\u2014Scientists at the Salk Institute have identified a gene responsible for stopping the movement of c\u00e1ncer<\/a> from the lungs to other parts of the body, indicating a new way to fight one of the world’s deadliest cancers.\n<\/p>\n

\nBy identifying the cause of this metastasis\u2014which often happens quickly in lung cancer and results in a bleak survival rate\u2014Salk scientists are able to explain why some tumors are more prone to spreading than others. The newly discovered pathway, detailed today in Molecular Cell<\/em><\/a>, may also help researchers understand and treat the spread of melanoma and cervical cancers.\n<\/p>\n

\"DIXDC1\"<\/p>\n

\nFocal adhesion complexes (bright green) are typically large and sticky, anchoring a cell into place (left). When the gene DIXDC1 is knocked out, focal adhesion complexes instead become small and numerous, readying cancer cells to move into the bloodstream and become metastatic (right).\n <\/p>\n

Haga clic aqu\u00ed<\/a> para obtener una imagen en alta resoluci\u00f3n.<\/p>\n

\nImagen: Cortes\u00eda del Instituto Salk de Estudios Biol\u00f3gicos\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n“Lung cancer, even when it’s discovered early, is often able to metastasize almost immediately and take hold throughout the body,” says Reuben J. Shaw<\/a>, professor in Salk’s Laboratorio de Biolog\u00eda Molecular y Celular<\/a> and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute early career scientist. “The reason behind why some tumors do that and others don’t has not been very well understood. Now, through this work, we are beginning to understand why some subsets of lung cancer are so invasive.”\n<\/p>\n

\nLung cancer, which also affects nonsmokers, is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the country (estimated to be nearly 160,000 this year<\/a>). The United States spends more than $12 billion on lung cancer treatments, according to the Instituto Nacional del C\u00e1ncer<\/a>. Nevertheless, the survival rate for lung cancer is dismal: 80 percent of patients die within five years of diagnosis largely due to the disease’s aggressive tendency to spread throughout the body.\n<\/p>\n

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