|
Science
Friday > Archives
> 1997
> August
> August 29, 1997
Hour Two: Colon Cancer Gene / Mars Pathfinder Update
Biologists announced this week that they had located a gene which
doubles the risk of developing colon cancer for those who carry it --
and that they had developed a test to screen for the mutant gene. This
mutation has only been found in people of Ashkenazi Jewish descent,
but it exists in that population with surprising frequency. As much
as six percent of the Ashkenazi population, which was once based in
Eastern and Central Europe and now includes some six million Americans,
carries the gene.
Colon cancer accounts for between 10 and 15 percent of all cancer deaths
nationwide. Over 90,000 cases of colon cancer are expected to be reported
this year. A test that could help identify people at high risk for developing
colon cancer would allow for better screening, and could lead to sharp
reductions in mortality from the disease.
On this segment of Science Friday, we'll talk about what this discovery
means for people at risk from colon cancer -- and about how this discovery
might apply to research on other cancers.
Plus ... The Mars Sojourner just keeps going and going and going....
The Pathfinder mission, once scheduled for only 30 days, is now running
on an "extended mission profile." With the exception of some communications
and computer difficulties, the mission has been going surprisingly well,
bringing back thousands of images and a wealth of data on everything
from Martian weather to the composition of the reddish-brown dust that
litters the surface. The Sojourner rover has logged over 70 meters of
travel over the surface, and is making great progress on sampling the
varied terrain around the landing site.
At a press conference on Wednesday, mission scientists said that they
now hoped to be able to extend the mission to at least a year. On this
segment of Science Friday, we'll talk to Matt Golombek about how the
mission is going, what we've learned so far, and what lies ahead.
Guests:
Dr. Kenneth Offit
Chief of Clinical Genetics
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
New York, NY
Steve Laken
Doctoral Candidate, Cellular and Molecular Medicine
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD
Matt Golombek
Project Scientist, Mars Pathfinder
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Pasedena, CA
Books/Articles Discussed:
"Familial colorectal cancer in Ashkenazim due to a hypermutable tract
in APC," Vogelstein, Kinsler,et. al., Nature
Genetics, vol 17, September 1997, pp79-83.
Related links:
Info from
The Johns Hopkins Oncology Center on the recent discovery
Colorectal
Cancer info from the National Cancer Society
NIH
Colon Cancer Info
Colon Cancer Connections
The Hereditary Colon Cancer
Newsletter from the MD Anderson Cancer Center
The
National Human Genome Research Institute "Maps to Medicine"
The Mars Pathfinder Mirror Sites
Mars News from JPL
Mars News for Kids - The Quest
Project
|
