NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A small change in TP53, a gene that produces a tumor-suppressing protein, appears to increase the risk of developing a deadly brain tumor at an earlier age, a French research team reports in the journal Neurology.
Glioblastoma multiforme, a serious brain tumor involving nerve support cells, kills half its victims within a year and patients rarely survive more than three years. Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, 76, was diagnosed with this type of brain tumor last May.
The change in the TP53 gene, known as the Pro/Pro variant, has been associated with various cancers, but its impact on glioblastoma was unknown, lead author Dr. Marc Sanson and co-authors explain.
Sanson, at Hopital de la Salpetriere in Paris, and his team analyzed DNA from 254 patients with glioblastoma and 238 healthy comparison subjects.
On the overall analysis, the Pro/Pro variant occurred with similar frequency in glioblastoma patients and in healthy subjects.
However, when the researchers looked at various patient subgroups, they found that the variant occurred significantly more often among patients who were less than 45 years old compared with older patients and healthy subjects.
Testing for the Pro/Pro variant and additional genetic information may "help to identify individuals who are genetically susceptible to develop glioblastoma, and at an earlier age," the authors conclude.
"However," Sanson noted in a prepared statement, "the risk for this population remains low...because these brain tumors (glioblastomas) are infrequent in young people."
SOURCE: Neurology, January 27, 2009.
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Date last updated: 27 January 2009 |