U of S Research Reveals "Beauty and the Beast" Genes May Govern Cancer Development

Posted August 29, 2005


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Monday, August 29, 2005
2005-08-05-ME

U of S Research Reveals "Beauty and the Beast" Genes May Govern Cancer
Development

A U of S research team has found that a pair of closely related genes may
govern the development of cancer, a discovery that could lead to new early
screening tools to detect the deadly disease, according to an article
published today in the Journal of Cell Biology.

"These two genes are very similar, like twins," says University of
Saskatchewan health scientist Wei Xiao. "They are over 90 per cent
identical, but they have very different functions."

In fact, the products of the genes and what they do has led Xiao and his
team to dub them "Beauty and the Beast." Beauty codes for an enzyme, Mms2,
which repairs damaged DNA so the cells keep reproducing healthy copies of
themselves. If the DNA damage is too great, the cells destroy themselves in
a process called apoptosis, or programmed cell death.

Beast is another matter entirely. Its enzyme, Uev1A, encourages cell
division. Xiao, professor and head of the department of microbiology and
immunology in the College of Medicine, explains that this is a critical
function when the body is under attack by viruses or bacteria. In such a
situation, Beast marshals defenses such as lymphocytes, a type of white
blood cell that must multiply rapidly to fight off invaders.

The two genes complement each other when they work together. But Xiao says
Beast's propensity for uncontrolled cell division makes it a prospective
oncogene - a gene that causes cancer (in this case, lymphoma) when
abnormally active in a cell.

"Both these genes work with the same partner, called Ubc13, so they both
need the same resources," he says. "If the Beast is being constantly
expressed to stimulate cells to reproduce, it could lead to cancer."

Xiao hopes further studies will confirm this idea. If true, it could lead to
screening tests to detect a cancer-causing imbalance much earlier, allowing
treatment and prevention. Indeed, some reagents suitable for such tests have
been developed by Xiao and his colleagues at the University of Saskatchewan
and licensed to California-based Zymed Laboratories, Inc. and Calgary-based
CytoStore.

Details of the research appear in the article "Distinct regulation of Ubc13
functions by the two ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme variants Mms2 and Uev1A"
(http://www.jcb.org/cgi/content/abstract/170/5/745).

The research was led by Xiao and his team including graduate students Parker
Andersen and Landon Pastushok, with collaborators from the University of
Saskatchewan, University of Alberta and Genentech Inc. in San Francisco.
Funding is provided by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the
Montréal-based Cancer Research Society.

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For more information, contact:

Wei Xiao
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
College of Medicine
University of Saskatchewan
(306) 966-4308
wei.xiao@usask.ca

Michael Robin
Research Communications
University of Saskatchewan
(306) 966-2427
michael.robin@usask.ca
www.usask.ca/research