Find could mean better cancer treatments

Ten years ago, a 40-year-old Olympia man walked into Dr. Teresa Brentnall's clinic at the University of Washington and asked the physician to protect him from the fate of so many others in his family, almost certain death from pancreatic cancer.

Today, Brentnall's team at the UW, along with colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh and multiple research institutions in the U.S. and Britain, report in the Public Library of Science-Medicine how that encounter a decade ago led to the discovery of a gene that, when mutated, causes a rare form of heritable pancreatic cancer.

Of perhaps greater importance, though presented very carefully and with little fanfare in today's report, is the additional possibility that the Olympia man and his cancer-prone family may help resolve one of the field's biggest mysteries -- how cancer cells move, or metastasize.

"This man's family, we call them Family X, is now famous in the world of pancreatic cancer research," said Brentnall, senior author of the journal paper.

This is the first gene known to cause this highly lethal form of cancer, she said, and its discovery could pave the way for better diagnostic methods and treatments. Pancreatic cancer, the fourth-leading cause of cancer death in the United States, is difficult to identify early, and most of those who have it die within a year of diagnosis. Treatment is almost always ineffective.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/295593_pancgene12.html

and one of the most important questions doctors are asking these days is "how does cancer spread?" Its a HUGH!!111!! question. If researchers can find ways to stop cancer from spreading, most likely the treatment they develop can apply to many forms of cancer.