single nucleotide polymorphism

People with a variation in the gene that controls how fat is metabolized by cells have a lowered chance of getting colorectal cancer, even in families with already increased risk.

Scientists studied differences in short regions of the ADIPOQ gene called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) among patients with colorectal cancer and a similar group of people who didn’t have cancer. In two different study groups, they found that one variation reduced risk of getting cancer by about 30 percent. Read the rest of this entry »

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a new system that lets them see and count cells with a particular mutation.

Working with specially bred mice, the biological engineering team found clusters of cells in pancreas tissue that all contained the same mutation.  Because more than 90 percent of the cells were clustered, the scientists concluded that they all came from  one mutation, rather than from many individual changes. Read the rest of this entry »