Medical News Summary: Chemical signals involved in cancer causes found

About: Chemical signals involved in cancer causes found
Date: 22 November 2004
Source: AScribe Newswire
Medical News Summary (summary of medical news story as reported by AScribe Newswire): Scientists from the John Hopkins centre have found the probable cause of many cancers. They believe that Hegehog and Wnt (two chemical signals) are involved in the stem cell repair of damaged tissue. If the patient has a chronic condition that continually damages the same tissue, these stem cells somehow mutate and keep reproducing. Scientists found that by switching off the action of Hedgehog and Wnt, the cancer went into remission in mice. This could explain how conditions such as ulcers and heartburn can lead to cancer. This finding could be used to inform new discoveries about the treatment of cancer. Hedgehog has been found to be active in cancer of the lung, brain, stomach, esophagus, skin, pancreas, bladder, muscle and prostate and Wnt has been associated with colon, liver, blood, bone and lung cancer.
URL: http://www.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/behold.pl?ascribeid=20041122.084309&time=09%2038%20PST&year=2004&public=1
Related Disease Topics: Cancer, Ulcers, Heartburn, Lung cancer, Brain cancer, Stomach cancer, Esophagus cancer, Skin cancer, Pancreas cancer, Bladder cancer, Muscle cancer, Prostate cancer, Colon cancer, Liver cancer, Blood cancer, Bone cancer, Lung cancer

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