MINNEAPOLIS, January 9, 2008—A University of Minnesota cancer researcher has discovered how key genes cause breast and ovarian cancer cells to either multiply or die.

This finding opens the door to developing drugs that target these E2F1 target genes, balance their dual functions, and give women diagnosed with breast or ovarian cancer a greater chance for long-term survival.

Timothy Hallstrom, Ph.D., assistant professor and scientist with the University of Minnesota Cancer Center, collaborated with researchers at Duke University to make this discovery. The finding is reported in the journal Cancer Cell.

“Cancer researchers have known for some time that certain proteins regulate genes that are essential for cancer cells to either proliferate or die off,” Hallstrom said. “With our discovery, we now also know which specific genes serve the dual functions of turning cancer cells on or off, and how these functions operate in breast and ovarian cancers.”

According to Hallstrom, cancer most frequently begins when pathways in the body known as the Rb and PI3K pathways become overly active through mutations. This new research now shows that the activity of both of these pathways converges on E2F1 to block the expression of these target genes that cause cancer cells to die.