ITALIANS IN CANCER BREAKTHROUGH

ITALIANS IN CANCER BREAKTHROUGH

Short chromosome tips spell risk for thyroid

(ANSA) - Siena, October 20 - A group of researchers in Siena have made a breakthrough in cancer research. The researchers led by Professor Furio Pacini examined the ends of chromosomes of patients with a type of genetically related thyroid cancer. They found an abnormal shortening of the telomeres, the tips which protect a cell's chromosomes from fusing with each other and are involved in cell ageing. ''We showed that this alteration of the telomeres' DNA is only present in the family-related form of thyroid cancer,'' Pacini told the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. ''In this way we were able to identify those relatives of a patient with short telomeres who are most at risk of developing the same tumour,'' he said. Professor Pacini recently received two prestigious international prizes for his research. In September he was given the European Thyroid Association's annual ETA-Merck prize and earlier this month received the Paul Starr Award from the American Thyroid Association. photo: model of DNA's double helix