Ground Report

A group of scientists at the Johns Hopkins University have identified a gene that helps to protect mice against intestinal tumors though it may play a role in spreading breast cancer, according to a study to be published. The discovery may one day lead to drugs that boost resistance to cancer in Humans said the study. Researchers led by Roger Reeves at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, showed that the gene ETS2 acts as a tumor suppresser in rodents afflicted with the Humans equivalent to Down’s syndrome. The finding settles a decades old debate about whether this inherited disorder confers protection against cancerous tumors. Establishing this connection was in fact the starting point for a clever series of experiments using genetically modified mice that eventually led to ETS2.