BCAS3 is already implicated in breast cancer

Indian scientists have zeroed in on a protein whose presence might serve as an indicator of the possible onset of several cancers. Researchers at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) and the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (Nimhans) in Bangalore have found that when the gene Breast Cancer Amplified Sequence 3 (BCAS3) — which expresses this particular protein — goes awry, it can trigger cancers in many organs, including of the brain.

As the name suggests, scientists already knew that the gene is implicated in breast cancer. But what they didn’t know was how it worked and what its normal function in the body was. Earlier studies had found that the BCAS3 gene expressed itself in an aberrant manner in nearly 9 per cent of breast cancer cases. But the latest study — led by JNCASR scientist Maneesha Inamdar — elucidated on the normal expression pattern of the gene using human embryonic stem cells. The findings, reported in the November issue of the journal PLoS One, clearly indicate that BCAS3 — which appears on chromosome 17 of the human DNA — plays a key role in the formation of blood cells and blood vessels.

“The BCAS3 gene sits on one such complex region of the DNA, a break in which can give rise to cancers,” Inamdar told KnowHow. Such breakage can disturb the gene and make it function abnormally, she explains.

More importantly, the Bangalore researchers demonstrated that BCAS3 is linked not only to breast cancer but also to several others, including brain tumours and cancers of the blood vessels and soft tissue.

Significantly, Inamdar’s group was the first to study a gene that resembles BCAS3 in mice, which they later named Rudhira (meaning “blood” in Sanskrit). Rudhira, which they reported in January last year, and BCAS3 are 100 per cent similar, says Inamdar.

That mis-expression of the BCAS3 gene is associated with tumour development could be used as a possible tool in cancer diagnosis, the JNCASR researcher observes.