Gene Discovery Could Lead to New Treatments for Childhood Cancer
2 April 2010 - ICR scientists have identified two genes linked to Wilms’ tumour, the most common form of kidney cancer in children.
The team scanned the chromosomes of Wilms’ tumour samples from nearly 100 children with the disease, looking for alterations in the number of copies of thousands of genes.
They found that children with a Wilms’ tumour who have an increased number of copies of the gene MYCN are more likely to have high risk forms of the disease. The high risk form, which affects between five and 10 per cent of children with Wilms’ tumour, is more likely to spread or return after initial treatment.
Lead author Professor Kathy Pritchard-Jones, a Cancer Research UK-funded scientist at the ICR, said: “We now have a useful marker to help us identify those with the high risk form of the disease. Further research is needed before we can use this marker to target stronger treatment to these children, but this is our aim.”
The researchers also found that around four per cent of Wilms’ tumour patients have mistakes in their tumour’s FBXW7 gene. These mutations are associated with a particular type of Wilms’ tumour that is normally successfully treated. This finding could help doctors to tailor treatments to each patient.
It is known that the FBXW7 gene is involved in the breakdown of MYCN, so this new discovery in Wilms’ tumour identifies an exciting new treatment target. There are already treatments in development for neuroblastomas that target the MYCN gene and these same drugs could be used for Wilms’ tumours that return.
