| THE
UNDERLYING DISPOSITION TO PROSTATE CANCER - GRANT TOWARDS THE
PURCHASE OF A PCR MACHINE
Dr Ros Eeles and the Cancer Genetics team The Royal Marsden, Sutton, London UK |
The Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) looks closely at the gene sequences in tissue. As such it provides a "molecular fingerprint" of the tissue being studied. Dr Eeles and her team are amongst the foremost researchers in the field of the genetics of prostate cancer. This grant is towards the purchase of additional PCR equipment.
The team has used the technique to demonstrate that a common oncogene is not the contributing factor in familial prostate cancer; it is known that there is a mutation (change) in an oncogene (a gene determining cancer) in a proportion of patients who present with prostate cancer. They studied families with a family history of prostate cancer and showed that the gene does not contribute to the prostate cancer susceptibility. Although this seems to be a negative result, in medical research negatives are important; because firstly they allow appropriate further research and secondly they stop other researchers obsessing with "what if?....." questions.
Research summarised by Prostate Research Campaign UK, 17 December
1997.
Project 1995/02