Key Gene Found Responsible For Accelerated Aging and Cancer

First time accepted submitter gbrennan123 writes "Researchers at NYU School of Medicine have identified a single gene that simultaneously controls inflammation, accelerated aging and cancer. From the article: '"This was certainly an unexpected finding," said principal investigator Robert J. Schneider, PhD, the Albert Sabin Professor of Molecular Pathogenesis, associate director for translational research and co-director of the Breast Cancer Program at NYU Langone Medical Center. "It is rather uncommon for one gene to have two very different and very significant functions that tie together control of aging and inflammation. The two, if not regulated properly, can eventually lead to cancer development. It's an exciting scientific find."'"

Comments

new finding

[phantomfive]

Took me a while to parse the article, but there were two parts. We already knew the gene group AUF1 controlled inflammation.

a gene called AUF1 controls inflammation by turning off the inflammatory response to stop the onset of septic shock.

The new discovery, which they apparently discovered and will be shown when their paper is published, was that AUF1 also releases telomerase to repair telomeres.

The current study reveals that AUF1....also maintains the integrity of chromosomes by activating the enzyme telomerase to repair the ends of chromosomes

Re:Link to actual paper?

[jrminter]

http://www.cell.com/molecular-cell/abstract/S1097-2765(12)00341-3