BRONX, N.Y., Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Recent research suggests a protein called cyclin D1 may be a target for treating rhabdoid tumors -- aggressive tumors typically occurring in childhood.
Currently no effective treatment exists for rhabdoid tumors, which often have lost both functioning copies of the Ini1 gene, the protein for which has been shown to repress cyclin D1 gene expression in rhabdoid cells.
Children who carry a mutation in one copy of the Ini1 gene typically develop rhabdoid tumors when the other copy is also mutated in some way.
To investigate the role of cyclin D1, Ganjam Kalpana of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and colleagues generated mice missing one copy (of two possible) of the Ini1 gene. In these mice, rhabdoid tumors developed, Ini1 protein was defective and cyclin D1 was expressed.
In mice missing one copy of Ini1 and missing both copies of cyclin D1, however, no tumors developed.
The researchers say their study provides genetic evidence rhabdoid tumors are dependent on the presence of cyclin D1, and targeting the cyclin D1 gene may pose a treatment strategy.
The study is to be published this week in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
