Greater understanding of tumour growth

Non-surgical treatments for multiple tumours move one step nearer A study led by researchers from Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry has for the first time revealed how the loss of a particular tumour suppressing protein leads to the abnormal growth of tumours of the brain and nervous system. The study is published in Brain: A Journal of Neurology . Tumour suppressors exist in cells to prevent abnormal cell division in our bodies. The loss of a tumour suppressor called Merlin leads to tumours in many cell types within our nervous systems. There are two copies of a tumour suppressor, one on each chromosome that we inherit from our parents. The loss of Merlin can be caused by random loss of both copies in a single cell, causing sporadic tumours, or by inheriting one abnormal copy and losing the second copy throughout our lifetime as is seen in the inherited condition of neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2). With either sporadic loss or inherited NF2, these tumours lacking the Merlin protein develop in the Schwann cells that form the sheaths that surround and electrically insulate neurons.