Researchers have identified the hereditary gene mutations behind a deadly form of childhood cancer, opening the way to genetic tests in high-risk families, a study released yesterday showed.
The same wayward gene has been previously linked to lymphoma and lung cancer in adults, so afflicted children could benefit from experimental drugs designed to suppress its activity, the study says.
“This very important discovery not only helps us understand the genetic roots of this terrible disease, but also has led to dramatically new ideas for curative therapy,” said lead researcher John Maris, head of the Center for Childhood Cancer Research at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Neuroblastoma attacks the nervous system. While fairly rare, it accounts for 7 percent of all childhood cancers, and 15 percent of non-adult cancer deaths.
The disease has long puzzled scientists because of its highly variable outcomes: Some forms strike infants but then recede without treatment, while other variants, especially in older children, can be relentlessly aggressive.
“This discovery enables us to offer the first genetic tests to families affected by the inherited form of this disease,” said Yael Mosse, lead author and a pediatric oncologist at Children’s Hospital.
An international team led by Maris scanned genomes — the DNA library unique to every individual — within 10 families beset by the disease.
The first broad scan narrowed the hunt to one particular chromosome, No. 2. Another round of sequencing revealed that eight of the 10 families had the same telltale variant in one spot, the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene.
The findings, published in the British journal Nature, will make it possible to use simple ultrasound or urine tests to monitor children with this mutation so that any signs of the cancer can be tackled at an early stage.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
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Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
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