By testing over 4,000 genes in human tumors, Inder Verma’s team found an enzyme responsible for suppressing lung cancer, which affects nonsmokers as well as smokers and is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. This enzyme, called EphA2, normally polices a gene responsible for tissue growth. But when EphA2 is mutated, the Salk team discovered, cellular systems can run amok and quickly develop tumors. The research, published the week of November 2, 2015 in PNAS, suggests that EphA2 could be a new target for a subset of lung cancer.
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