Mighty Mouse has been “created” in a lab in Kentucky.
A mouse resistant to cancer, even highly-aggressive types, has been created by researchers at the University of Kentucky. The breakthrough stems from a discovery by UK College of Medicine professor of radiation medicine Vivek Rangnekar and a team of researchers who found a tumor-suppressor gene called “Par-4″ in the prostate.
The researchers discovered that the Par-4 gene kills cancer cells, but not normal cells. There are very few molecules that specifically fight against cancer cells, giving it a potentially therapeutic application.
Funded by several grants from the National Institutes of Health, Rangnekar’s study is unique in that mice born with this gene are not developing tumors. The mice grow normally and have no defects. In fact, the mice possessing Par-4 actually live a few months longer than the control animals, indicating that they have no toxic side effects.
“We originally discovered Par-4 in the prostate, but it’s not limited to the prostate. The gene is expressed in every cell type that we’ve looked at and it induces the death of a broad range of cancer cells, including of course, cancer cells in the prostate,” said Rangnekar. “The interesting part of this study is that this killer gene is selective for killing cancer cells. It will not kill normal cells and there are very, very few selective molecules out there like this.”
To further investigate the potential therapeutic benefits of this gene, Rangnekar’s team introduced it into the egg of a mouse. That egg was then planted into a surrogate mother.
“The mouse itself does not express a large number of copies of this gene, but the pups do and then their pups start expressing the gene,” Rangnekar said. “So, we’ve been able to transfer this activity to generations in the mouse.”
Very cool. I would hope that within a few years, we are able to find a way to use the finding to prevent cancer in humans.
