Retinoic Acid Triggers Cancer-Killing Gene

The study was reported in the March 19, 2002, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Reinoic acid (RA) in used in cancer therapy and causes remissions in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), a rare but lethal leukemia. This leukemia is marked by an unusual genetic defect that rearranges the receptor for RA. A hallmark of this retinoid response is the degradation of the abnormal receptor that causes the disease.

While studying the RA pathway, a research team from Dartmouth Medical School (Hanover, NH, USA) found a target gene that appears to mimic the drug action, degrade the abnormal receptor, and induce cell death. When introduced into leukemia cells, this gene, called UBE1L, reproduced key aspects of the retinoic acid response and caused the death of the leukemia cells.

"This is exciting because we have identified a potential pharmacologic target that signals a death program in leukemia and perhaps other cancer cells as well,” said first author Sutisak Kitareewan.




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