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... RNA Interference Genetic Screen Suggests New Targets for Cancer Therapies, March 29, 2006 News Release - National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Cancer Institute (NCI) EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE Wednesday, March 29, 2006 12:00 p.m.

ET Subscribe CONTACT: NCI Media Relations Branch 301-496-6641 RNA Interference Genetic Screen Suggests New Targets for Cancer Therapies Researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, have developed a new method to identify genes that keep cancer cells active and that could be potential targets of anticancer therapies.

The method uses RNA interference (RNAi), a technology for silencing genes, to screen cancer cells for genes that, when silenced, cause cancer cells to die or stop dividing.

These genes are essential for the survival of cancer cells and represent potential therapeutic targets, but they might not contain mutations or other alterations typically associated with the disease.

“This method could be used to identify a new class of oncogenes beyond the ones traditionally identified as mutated or otherwise deregulated in cancer,” said lead researcher Louis M.

Staudt, M.D., Ph.D., of NCI’s Center for Cancer Research (CCR).

The method is described in a study to be published online in Nature* on March 29.

“The traditional way of approaching cancer biology is to identify genes in cancer cells altered by mutations or in their functions,” explained Staudt.

“This method identifies additiona...

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