Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 3, 1990 TAG: 9005030480
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Short
The gene tells cells to produce a particular protein, and the new test-tube study found this protein spurred the growth of Kaposi's sarcoma cells taken from AIDS patients.
Scientists also found the protein was released by cells infected with the virus that causes AIDS.
Kaposi's sarcoma is a generally uncommon cancer that appears unusually often in people with AIDS. It can be controlled medically and it rarely kills AIDS patients.
The study focused on a gene called tat, which helps regulate growth of the AIDS virus. In previous research, scientists had found that when mice were given a copy of this gene, they developed a skin disease that closely resembled Kaposi's sarcoma.
Combined with that finding, the new work indicates that once the gene's protein escapes from an AIDS-infected cell, it may promote the development or progression of Kaposi's sarcoma elsewhere in the body, researchers wrote in today's issue of the British journal Nature.
The work was reported by Dr. Robert Gallo and colleagues at the National Cancer Institute and Dr. Flossie Wong-Staal of the University of California, San Diego. - Associated Press
by CNB