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Sci. STKE, 25 May 2004
Vol. 2004, Issue 234, p. tw189
[DOI: 10.1126/stke.2342004TW189]

EDITORS' CHOICE

CANCER Phosphatase Culprits in Cancer

The identification of genes that are mutated in cancer cells can provide important clues to tumor pathogenesis. Working with a large collection of human colorectal tumors and matched normal tissue, Wang et al. have systematically sequenced the entire family of genes coding for an important group of cellular signaling enzymes called protein tyrosine phosphatases. Sequence alterations in phosphatase genes were found in about 25% of the tumors, and biochemical analysis confirmed that at least a subset of these alterations had functional effects on phosphatase activity. In addition to identifying potential tumor suppressor genes, this comprehensive sequencing approach may have future applications in the design of personalized cancer therapy.

Z. Wang, D. Shen, D. W. Parsons, A. Bardelli, J. Sager, S. Szabo, J. Ptak, N. Silliman, B. A. Peters, M. S. van der Heijden, G. Parmigiani, H. Yan, T.-L. Wang, G. Riggins, S. M. Powell, J. K. V. Willson, S. Markowitz, K. Kinzler, B. Vogelstein, V. E. Velculescu, Mutational analysis of the tyrosine phosphatome in colorectal cancers. Science 304, 1164-1166 (2004). [Abstract] [Full Text]

Citation: Phosphatase Culprits in Cancer. Sci. STKE 2004, tw189 (2004).

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