
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 29, 1990                   TAG: 9003290642
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA.                                LENGTH: Short

CANCER CELLS KILLED BY GENETIC SABOTAGE

Cancer cells have been killed in the test tube by sabotaging their genetic machinery, an early step in what could someday become a new form of therapy, a researcher says.

Scientists used a molecule that latched onto a key substance in cancer cells, preventing a crucial gene from relaying its orders to the cells.

The research is among early work in the so-called anti-sense strategy that seeks to block the effect of particular genes in cancer cells.

The new results were described Wednesday, at an American Cancer Society science writers seminar, by Dr. John Reed of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

His work was in lymphomas, cancers of the body's lymph tissues that strike more than 40,000 Americans a year. Lymph tissues play an important role in fighting infections.

-Associated Press

by CNB