Genetics, A Key in Understanding Cancer

One of the things that has peaked my interest recently is some research involving the transformation of skin cells into stem cells being done at the Whitehead Institute of Biomedical Research. This process of transforming skin cells into stem cells involves the use of viruses to reprogram the DNA of the skin cells into embryonic-like stem cells. This discovery was made over 2 years ago, but at the time there was a problem. This infusion of viral DNA into the skin cells to make them into stem cells caused the cells to replicate uncontrollably; in general the skin cells became stem cells, which later became cancerous cells. This problem was resolved in March of 2009 by the Whitehead Institute. Researchers found that by introducing an enzyme called Cre-recombinase right after the viral DNA was introduced, they could disengage the viral DNA and prevent the newly formed stem cell from becoming cancerous. What interested me the most about this discovery was how this discovery is linked to genetics. Cancer has been one of the biggest enigmas in the medical world, yet it is caused by the simplest problem. Cancer, simply put, is a cluster of cells that grow uncontrollably because of a genetic irregularity. This mutated gene is called an oncogene (from the Greek root onco- meaning tumor, bulk, volume) and it can be easily isolated. After learning of this discovery, I began to wonder as to the possible application of this discovery to the problem of cancer, realizing at the same time that the problem of cancer is genetically based. Because gene expression is situated in the transcription and translation of DNA into protein, can the problem of understanding cancer be solved by back tracking this process and comparing the DNA that produces the irregular proteins in cancerous cells to those of normal cells?

To this post, I would like to include the links to the article I read and further information that can be found at the website for the Whitehead Institute of Biomedical Research:

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/03/virusfreeips/

http://www.whitehead.mit.edu/news/archives/2008/rj_0701.html