New type of tumor suppressing gene in breast cancer

Breast Cancer is currently the top 5 cause of death in the world population of women, with about 1 in 8 women would develop breast cancer.The cause of cancer is usually characterised by reactive oxygen species leading to development of cancerous cells.

New analysis indicates that breast cancer cell line have a decreased expression of MnSOD, Manganese superoxide dismutase, an enzymes that catalyses the dismutation of superoxide in the mitochondria, which lead to reduced levels of reactive oxygen species and encoded by the nuclear gene SOD2. In the cases of overexpression of MnSOD decreases the metastatic potential and invasiveness of tumor cell line, this new study suggests that SOD2 gene could possibly be the new type of tumor supressor gene.

Over years of research, it has become clear that epigenetic processes have a critical role in cancer development, in breast cancer cell line where the epigenetic modification of the chromatin structures of SOD2 to become hypoacetylated, leading to decreased binding of transcription factors and therefore lowered production of MnSOD2.
The actual mechanism of the epigenetic regulation of SOD2 gene still remains unclear, requiring further study.


Winnie Yum