Key breast cancer gene identified

Princeton researchers have identified a gene linked to breast cancer that appears to cause tumors to spread and resist chemotherapy. The gene could become a target for new drugs, according to a study published in the Jan. 6 issue of Cancer Cell.

The research, conducted by assistant professor of molecular biology Yibin Kang and colleagues at Princeton, the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, found that a gene called metadherin is switched on in up to 40 percent of breast cancer patients. Kang said in a University release that inhibiting metadherin might “reduce the chance of recurrence and, at the same time, decrease the risk” of breast cancer spreading to other parts of the body.