New gene found to cause a childhood cancer

Wilms tumour is a rare kidney cancer that occurs in children. It affects about one in ten thousand children, but fortunately, it is curable in about 90% of them. Recently a new study shows that genetic mutations in a genehttp://www.cusabio.com/ called REST were found in 16 children with Wilms tumour. They were shown to cause Wilms tumour. 9 of the child were the only member in their family to develop the cancer, but in 4 families over 1 child were cancered. The researchers estimated that REST mutations cause about 10% of familial Wilms tumour. The research is published today (Monday) in the journal Nature Genetics, and is part of the Factors Associated with Childhood Tumours (FACT) study, which is uncovering genetic causes of childhood cancers and has participants from more than 5,000 families. The FACT study is funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Rosetrees Trust, and the REST project involved international collaborators including from Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, US. The study was published in the journal Nature Genetics this Monday. It is also a part of the Factors Associated with Childhood Tumours (FACT) study. The FACT study is figuring out genetic causes of childhood cancers and has participants from more than 5,000 families. Because REST gene is critical in embryo development, it is well-studied. The new study gives a new role to REST in the field of human genetics. The mutations seems to compromise the normal functioning of REST in regulating the development of the embryo. The findings about the genehttp://www.cusabio.com/ELISA-Kit/Human-midregional-pro-atrial-natriuretic-peptide-MR-proANP-ELISA-kit-1042031.html can explain to many parents that why their children are cancered. Now the children can do a simple blood test to see who are at risk of cancer and may benefit from cancer screening. So the research is really valuable and significant.