July 29, 1999
Cancer reseachers have made a landmark discovery.
For the first time, they have created a cancerous human cell by genetically altering a normal one.
Science Specialist Ed Yeates explains how this avenue of research could possibly speed up the development of drugs that wipe out tumors.
Biologist Mario Capecchi has been genetically altering cells for years. His technique on mice is now a model for other researchers - one MIT scientists used for their own discovery on a human cell.
Dr. Mario Capecchi /Eccles Institute of Human Genetics: "BUT THE TECHNOLOGY IS THE SAME. WE'RE USING WHAT WE'VE DEVELOPED AS A WAY OF BEING ABLE TO SPECIFICALLY INACTIVATE ANY GENE THAT YOU WANT."
Dr. Capecchi causes normal things to turn bad by genetically altering specific genes in the cells of mice. He's long believed once you do it that way and find out what triggers the change, then researchers can someday reverse the process, stopping the mutation before it happens.
His work currently is zeroing in on Cystic Fibrosis.
"WE CAN MAKE A MOUSE THAT HAS CYSTIC FIBROSIS. NOW ONCE WE HAVE THAT MOUSE NOW WE CAN START TREATING IT WITH DIFFERENT DRUGS TO SEE WHICH ONES ARE HELPFUL IN TERMS OF ELIMINATING THE DEFECTS."
Biologists at MIT made their cancer cell by deliberately making specific flaws in the geneteic blueprint of the cell.
Dr. Capecchi has done the same thing - but instead of cancer he's produced birth defects in mice.
In hoping to better understand retardation and mental abnormalities his group is now beginning a monumental project of triggering flaws in the brain.
"AND BY WORKING BACKWARDS WE CAN SEE IF WE KNOCK OUT A PARTICULAR GENE - FOR EXAMPLE A PART OF THE BRAIN IS MISSING THEN WE KNOW THAT GENE IS IMPORTANT FOR MAKING THAT PART OF THE BRAIN."
It's more than just mapping genes which cause defects. Capecchi says it's mapping exactly how they do it!
Dr. Capecchi says researchers have just begun to learn what flaws produce what defects, and drugs and therapies to wipe them away are still at least 15 to 20 years away.
The technology for that MIT discovery was developed at the University of Utah.
