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Published online 20 May 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.493
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Why people with Down's syndrome get fewer cancers
Extra gene cuts growth of blood vessels that feed tumours.
A gene on the extra chromosome that causes Down's syndrome helps to protect those with the disorder from some types of cancer.
Sandra Ryeom, a vascular biologist at Children's Hospital Boston in Massachusetts, and her colleagues experimented with mice and with human cells to show that an additional third copy of the DSCR1 gene (also known as RCAN1) can suppress the growth of the blood vessels that feed cancerous tumours1.
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