Yale team offers fresh insights on cancer triggers

Up until now, there has been a consensus among researchers that it takes more than a single mutation inside a cell to trigger cancer. But a Yale team says that it has concluded that mutations in different cells can conspire to cause cancer. And various stresses, from wounds to emotional stress, can dispatch signals that cause cancer.

"The bad news is that it is much easier for a tissue to accumulate mutations in different cells than in the same cell," Tian Xu, a professor and vice chairman of genetics, told Futurity. Xu's team found that two cancer-causing genes--RAS and scribble--did not have to reside in the same cell to spur cancer. And they also found that a signal called JNK played a key role in cancer.

Said Xu: "A lot of different conditions can trigger stress signaling: physical stress, emotional stress, infections, inflammation-all these things. Another bad news for cancer."

- check out the story from Futurity

Related Articles:
"Fly paper" grabs cancer cells
Vaccine targets lingering cancer cells
A common virus proves lethal to cancer cells