10/01/2008 PERMALINK
Chromosome damage that blocks cell suicide key to cancer Normally when a chromosome is damaged, the cell carrying the chromosome turns on a gene named p53, which helps kill the cell. When mutated, p53 fails to carry out this vital function. That is why mutant p53 is a cancer-causing gene and is found in most human tumors. "Loss of a single telomere may be a primary event that puts a cell on the road to cancer," says Kent Golic, a professor of biology and senior author of the study ... University of Utah