BHUBANESWAR: Indian scientists at Columbia University in the US have challenged a decade-old dogma in cancer biology by showing that a gene critical for preventing cancer did not work as thought of previously.

Healthy individuals have a normal variety of this gene, commonly known as A20. However, individuals develop cancer if the gene cannot function properly. Thus, many cancer patients are known to carry a dysfunctional variety of the gene.

So, the scientists created the first animal model of A20 to understand how this gene works in the body. Based on results over the past decade, they expected that these animals would develop cancer.

But to their surprise, they found that the animals had a largely healthy life-span.

The work was carried out by Indian scientist Arnab De, during his doctorate study at Columbia University with renowned Indian-American immunologist Sankar Ghosh.

The work was recently published as a highlighted article in European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) Reports, a peer-reviewed scientific journal that covers research related to biology at a molecular level.

Articles chosen to be highlighted by EMBO are considered to be of "fundamental relevance to a general readership".

"I am hopeful that our work would contribute in a meaningful way towards testing cancer drugs in animals" De, who is now a senior scientist at AbbVie Bioresearch Center (formerly known as Abbott Laboratories), told IANS over phone.
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Source: IANS