Scientists at The University of Nottingham have found that a
genetic rogue element produced by sequences until recently considered ‘junk
DNA’ could promote cancer progression.
The researchers, led by Dr Cristina Tufarelli, in the School
of Graduate Entry Medicine and Health Sciences, discovered that the presence of
this faulty genetic element — known as chimeric transcript LCT13 — is
associated with the switching off of a known tumour suppressor gene (known as
TFPI-2) whose expression is required to prevent cancer invasion and metastasis.