Finnish researchers discover genes inhibiting the spread of prostate cancer

The research team of Professor Johanna Ivaska (University of Turku and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland) screened dozens of prostate cancers using gene silencing and discovered mechanisms of that inhibit the spread of cancer cells. Published in the Journal of Cell Science, the study shows that cancer cell adhesive activity, which is easy to measure in a laboratory setting, is directly linked to the ability of the cancer cells to metastasise. As a result, screening for regulators of cancer cell activity can lead to the discovery of new candidates for pharmaceutical development.

The study describes dozens of new regulators of cancer cell activity; employing gene silencing mechanisms on two of these regulators (CD9 and MMP8) was found to have a direct impact on the spreading of cancer cells.

In the study, researchers Teijo Pellinen and Juha Rantala from Professor Ivaska's research team utilised the cell spot micro array technology developed by VTT. The method allows researches to study the impacts of all genes in an entire genome in a single experiment.

The study was published in the Journal of Cell Science, a distinguished publication in the field of cell biology.

Ref: Pellinen T, Rantala JK, Arjonen A, Mpindi JP, Kallioniemi O, Ivaska J. J Cell Sci. 2012 Feb 1;125(Pt 3):649-61. A functional genetic screen reveals new regulators of β1-integrin activity.

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