"Misregulated" Genes Help Disease Spread.

• Position: Brief Article

A team of investigators from the University of Iowa, Iowa City, has identified genes that are involved in the invasive and metastatic spread of breast cancer. "After three years of intensive molecular screening, we are ecstatic about the prospects of developing our work for future clinical applications," indicates Mary J.C. Hendrix, head of anatomy and cell biology, associate director of basic research, and deputy director of the UI Cancer Center.

Although researchers believe breast cancer spreads through a complex, multi-step process involving alterations or loss of specific genes, little is known about the function, molecular regulation, and interaction of these genetic alterations. The first step to understanding how these "misregulated" genes lead to the spread of breast cancer is to identify them and study their function.

Through a molecular approach called differential display analysis, Hendrix's team identified the gene lysyl oxidase and a zinc finger transcription factor in highly aggressive breast...