In a G&D paper published online ahead of its April 1 print publication date, Dr. William Kaelin (Dana Farber Cancer Institute) and colleagues identify a potential new neuronal tumor suppressor.
“It has been suspected for decades that the short arm of chromosome 1 harbored one or more tumor suppressor genes because this region is deleted in a variety of tumors, including many neural crest-derived tumors. Our work suggests that KIFB{beta} is one such gene,” explains Dr. Kaelin.
Neural crest-derived tumors include neuroblastomas and medulloblastomas, which are the most common malignant pediatric solid tumors, as well as paragangliomas (relatively rare tumors of the sympathetic nervous system) and melanomas, the deadliest form of skin cancer.
Under normal developmental conditions, neural crest cells respond to diminishing growth factor signaling by inducing apoptosis, via a pathway involving the enzyme EglN3. However, the acquisition of mutations that enable cells to avoid apoptosis under low growth factor conditions provide a growth advantage and an effective route to tumorigenesis.
In this issue, Dr. Kaelin and colleagues identify that the protein KIF1B{beta} mediates EglN3-induced neuronal apoptosis, and thus provides a protective effect against the development of neural crest-derived tumors.