People with Down’s syndrome rarely get most kinds of cancer and U.S. researchers have nailed down one reason why — they have extra copies of a gene that helps keep tumors from feeding themselves.
….
“One such gene is Down’s syndrome candidate region-1 (DSCR1, also known as RCAN1),” Harvard’s Sandra Ryeom and colleagues wrote.
This gene codes for a protein that suppresses vascular endothelial growth factor or VEGF — one of the compounds necessary for angiogenesis.
References:
Down’s syndrome reveals one key to fighting cancer [Reuter]
Baek KH, Zaslavsky A, Lynch RC, Britt C, Okada Y, Siarey RJ, Lensch MW, Park IH, Yoon SS, Minami T, Korenberg JR, Folkman J, Daley GQ, Aird WC, Galdzicki Z, Ryeom S. Down’s syndrome suppression of tumour growth and the role of the calcineurin inhibitor DSCR1. Nature. 2009 May 20. [PubMed][Nature]