• Question: What strand in DNA causes cancer when it multiplies to many times?

    Asked by dave the raveing scietist to David, Eva, Kate, Nicholas, Rachel on 16 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Nicholas Pearce

      Nicholas Pearce answered on 16 Nov 2015:

      Hey,

      There isn’t always one strand of DNA that is responsible for cancer – there are a lot of different ways to get cancer.
      DNA strands called p53 and pRb are often the main culprits though.
      p53 is very important in stopping cancer and is often called ‘the guardian of the genome’ because when things go wrong with p53, cancer often happens.

    • Photo: David Nunan

      David Nunan answered on 16 Nov 2015:

      Hi

      This is a great question and pretty complex by all accounts, here’s my understanding of it…
      Many of the strands or genes that contribute to cancer can be grouped into 3 main categories:

      1. Tumour suppressor genes – usually these limit a cell’s growth, but if there is a problem with this gene (it mutates) then cells can grow uncontrollably and cause a tumour (p53 gene that Nicholas mentioned is included here).

      2. Oncogenes – these genes can turn healthy cells into cancerous ones. Onco means tumour in Greek and this is where we get the term ‘oncology’ from, which is the study of cancer.

      3. DNA repair genes – these fix mistakes that can be made as DNA gets copied. If these genes go wrong (mutate) then if errors are formed during the copying of DNA then they cannot be repaired.

      Having said all that there are still many cancers that cannot be linked to a specific gene (section of DNA) at all.

      So, I hope that helps.

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