Discoveries
Gene may serve as marker for human breast cancer, thanks to DFCI investigation using high-tech tool
The goal of detecting breast cancer at its earliest stages — before actual tumors begin to form — is a step closer, thanks to a study by Dana-Farber researchers.
Kornelia Polyak, MD, PhD
A team led by Kornelia Polyak, MD, PhD, has found that a protein called HIN-1, which is consistently present in normal breast cells, exists at much lower levels in nearly all human breast cancers and in two types of pre-invasive breast cancers.
"The distinction is so clear that HIN-1 may one day become a standard marker for determining whether breast tissue is cancerous or not," says Polyak, of Dana-Farber's Department of Adult Oncology and one of eight Dunkin' Donuts Discovery Program investigators at DFCI this year.
The discovery was made through a technique called SAGE — for Serial Analysis of Gene Expression — which measures the activity of thousands of genes at a time. By comparing the activity levels of genes in normal breast cells with those in breast cancer cells, researchers found the gene for HIN-1 to be more "highly expressed" in the first group than in the second.
Polyak and her colleagues are currently searching for other proteins that can help distinguish normal breast cells from cancerous ones. Finding such proteins could lead to new "early warning" diagnostic tests for breast cancer.
The study was published in the Aug. 14 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
