Gene Fusion
In 2005, Arul Chinnaiyan, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Michigan Center for Translational Pathology, and his team of investigators, made the landmark discovery that in prostate cancer, pieces of two chromosomes trade places with each other. This switch, or translocation, causes two unrelated genes to be placed next to each other and fuse together. The fusion of one of these genes, TMPRSS2 -- which is fueled by the male hormone, testosterone, with another family of cancer-causing genes termed ETS factors -- plays a critical role in the development of prostate cancer.
Before this extraordinary discovery, it was thought that gene fusions only cause cancers in leukemias and lymphomas, but not in common solid tumors such as prostate cancer. Dr. Chinnaiyan’s discovery demonstrated that these gene fusions could be found in solid tumors and has opened an entire field of research. This essential discovery may lead to better diagnostic tests and promising new treatments for prostate cancer.
