Nematode finding could shed light on BRCA1-involved cancers.

2004 FEB 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Our common evolutionary heritage with the humble nematode worm is helping unravel one of the key genetic puzzles in breast cancer.

For the first time, Cancer Research UK researchers have found a gene in the worm that is similar to the human breast and ovarian cancer gene BRCA1.

Scientists know BRCA1 plays an important role in human cells by repairing damaged DNA and stopping cancer from developing. But how it performs these functions remains a mystery. Now they believe studying the gene in the worm will provide important insights into how breast and ovarian cancers develop and could pave the way to new treatments for these BRCA1-involved diseases.

Previous studies have scanned the genomes of simpler organisms such as yeast, worms, and flies for a gene similar to BRCA1 but have found nothing. In the new study, published in Current Biology (2004;14[1]), scientists from the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute, in collaboration with researchers from the U.S. and Germany, performed a detailed search through the worm genome for genes that might be involved in repairing damaged DNA.

They stumbled on BRCA1 after they found a gene called BARD1. In humans BRCA1 and BARD1 form a complex, so when the team found BARD1 the researchers knew they were close to discovering its partner.

Simon Boulton from the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute, said: "It's nearly a decade since the BRCA genes were discovered and implicated in the development of breast and ovarian cancer but we are still very much in the dark about how they function.

"Previously, scientists have looked through the genome of the nematode worm but found no equivalent to the human BRCA1. So our new finding is somewhat unexpected but very exciting. The detailed genetic analysis we can do in cells of the worm is not really possible in more complex human cells."