Chromosome changes can cause cancer: US study - Yahoo! News

Description

A chromosome abnormality called aneuploidy can cause cancer, US researchers said in a study published Monday, confirming what scientists have long suspected.

With virtually all human cancers having an abnormal number of chromosomes, scientists have "long suspected that gene mutations which promote erroneous chromosome separation during cell division are to blame for tumor development," researchers at the Mayo Clinic said in a statement.

"By using a combination of new and established mouse models for human cancer, we were able to prove that aneuploidy causes cancer and elucidate the mechanism by which it does so," said Mayo Clinic cancer biologist and senior author of the study, Jan van Deursen.

Original URL

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091207/ts_alt_afp/healthcancerus_20091207190020

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091207/ts_alt_afp/healthcancerus_20091207190020