Yale Bulletin and Calendar

August 26, 2005|Volume 34, Number 1

Discovery may aid development
of treatment for melanoma

Researchers have pinpointed specific gene and protein over-production in metastatic melanoma, pointing the way to a possible new drug target, according to a study published July 7 in Nature.

Gene amplification is a process that often happens in cancer cells when the normal DNA replication process is altered, causing many copies of the gene to be produced instead of a single copy of a region of a chromosome.

The researchers found that the MITF (microphthalmia-associated transcription factor) master regulator is the target of gene amplification in melanoma. MITF amplification also was more prevalent in metastatic disease and was correlated with decreased overall patient survival.

Collaborators at Yale, using the technology AQUA™ (Automated Quantitative Analysis) to quantitatively measure protein expression in melanoma tissue microarrays, also found an over-expression of the protein.

"According to the study, these data suggest that MITF represents a distinct class of 'lineage survival' or 'lineage addiction' oncogenes required for both tissue-specific development and tumor progression," says Dr. David Rimm, associate professor in the Department of Pathology at the School of Medicine, an author of the study.

Aaron Berger, a student in Rimm's laboratory, was co-author. The corresponding author was William Sellers of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Co-authors included researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts General Hospital and the Medical University of Vienna.

The AQUA™ technology is the property of HistoRx Inc., a New Haven-based bioscience company offering novel digital technologies for in situ diagnostics developed at the School of Medicine. It enables researchers to localize and quantify proteins in tissue while maintaining spatial relationships -- a process that was previously impossible with conventional methods of pathology analysis and which vastly increases the quality and amount of information for analysis.

-- By Jacqueline Weaver

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Margaret Grey is named dean of School of Nursing

Benson to step down as dean of School of Art after this year

Team discovers new planet in the outer solar system

Grant will fund center for study of nervous system

Study: Alligator eggs show effect of oxygen on development

Yale Librarian Prochaska appointed to a second term

New master's program prepares nurses for leadership roles

Exhibit explores the 18th-century 'worlds' of Francis Wheatley

Private portrait miniatures showcase the faces of public figures

Gallery hosting festive open house . . .

Architecture gallery to feature traveling art show 'Ant Farm'

Sterling Library launches new academic year with two exhibits

Researchers create powerful tool for decoding gene functions

Galapagos tortoises more diverse than once believed, say scientists

Team identifies 'signatures' of protons in water

'Canary Database' shows animals offer health warnings for humans

Team digitally reconstructs long-extinct 'Lamp Shell'

'Gene trapping' reveals how flower development is controlled

Discovery may aid development of treatment for melanoma

Drinking alcohol may lower risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

Lyme disease prevention program launched in Connecticut

For 35 students, summer was a time of service in New Haven

IN MEMORIAM

John Ostrom: He revolutionized field of paleontology

Robert Abelson: Psychologist was adviser to presidential candidates

Greer Allen: University printer was inspiration to School of Art students