Japan discovers new gene linked to tumor growth

  In order to obtain nutrition, tumors will continuously produce new blood vessels, which serve as channels for supplementing nutrition. Japanese researchers recently announced that they have discovered a gene that can cause tumors to produce new blood vessels. This achievement will help develop new cancer treatment drugs in the future.

  Researchers have discovered that the vascular endothelial growth factor gene is related to tumor neovascularization, and several drugs have been developed to block the function of this gene. However, sometimes patients develop resistance to the drug and sometimes side effects.

  A research team led by Professor Tosuo Tanaka from Mie University in Japan started experiments with the improved zebrafish species "Mie Komachi" developed by itself. Zebrafish is a small tropical fish, but its genetic sequence is about 80% identical to the human genome, so it is often used in scientific experiments.

  After the researchers implanted prostate cancer cells in zebrafish, they found that after the expression of a gene called "ZMYND8" was increased, the tumor was prone to generate new blood vessels. After the use of drugs to suppress the function of this gene, the formation of new blood vessels is also suppressed. The researchers then used human umbilical cord vein endothelial cells to carry out experiments and obtained the same effect.