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The osteopontin gene may become a useful diagnostic tool for liver cancer's spread. And the protein it produces, called osteopontin, is a potential target for treatments for aggressive liver cancers.
"If we can identify in advance patients whose tumors are likely to metastasize, it will improve our ability to individualize treatment of their disease," says
Xin Wei Wang, Ph.D., of NCI's Center for Cancer Research and the lead investigator of the study. The research was done in collaboration with surgeons at the Liver Cancer Institute of Fudan University in Shanghai.
To measure gene activity, the researchers used DNA microarrays-also known as DNA chips-glass slides that are coated with thousands of spots of DNA, each representing a different gene. The slide reacts with a sample of tumor tissue and the DNA spots on the chip corresponding to the active genes in the tumor light up.
After finding the gene, the researchers did additional experiments and showed that cells grown in the lab with high levels of osteopontin protein are more likely to invade neighboring tissue. Blocking the activity of the protein prevented tumor cells from spreading, both in mice and in cells grown in the lab. Thus, osteopontin may be a potential therapeutic target as well as a predictor of disease spread.
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