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Scientists report breast cancer discovery

LA JOLLA, Calif., June 21 (UPI) -- U.S. cancer researchers have discovered how pleiotrophin -- a protein -- accelerates breast cancer progression in animal models.

The action of pleiotrophin, or PTN, hasn't been clearly established. But the new finding by Scripps Research Institute scientists could lead to advances in diagnosis and therapy, providing a better understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of breast cancer.

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"Breast cancers progress through stages of increasing malignancy triggered by mutations that promote their growth," said researcher Thomas Deuel. "The major finding of our study demonstrates both in vivo and in vitro that inappropriate expression of PTN not only promotes breast cancer progression but that by itself PTN secretion from human breast cancer cells may be sufficient to shift that progression to a more aggressive form of breast cancer."

The complex study appears in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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