ONE SMALL STEP FOR WOMANKIND: I hope it helps

Freezing to death on our way to Victoria

Small victories are better than no victories at all.  It has just been announced that the cause of an exceedingly disgusting form of ovarian cancer has been found.  The disease is called “small cell carcinoma of the ovary, hypercalcemic type”, or SCCOHT for short.  Fortunately, it is very rare.  Unfortunately, it strikes very young women (average age 24, with some as young as 14) and is as nasty as these things get: it does not respond to chemotherapy, and 65% of its victims die within 2 years.  You see why I call it disgusting.  I have some even stronger descriptive phrases for things like this, things that attack young people and don’t give them a chance to fight back – but they are unprintable.  

Well, an outfit called the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) has just announced that it has isolated the problem: a disabling mutation of a gene called SMARCA4.  The proper role of this gene is to produce a protein that forms part of a transcription complex, which codes for a bunch of proteins that help repress some genes and excite others. (Get all  that?)   Apparently if the SMARCA4 gene malfunctions there is nothing (or very little) to stop replication of these “small cells” in the ovary, resulting in SCCOHT.  Or so I surmise: it isn’t explained in the article which, by the way, you can read at:

http://www.hngn.com/articles/27334/20140325/genetic-cause-of-rare-ovarian-cancer-revealed-illness-usually-affects-young-women.htm

But I remain skeptical.  So we know what causes this type of cancer.  What can we do about it?  Maybe we could manufacture synthetic SMARCA4 protein and inject it in the patient.  Or maybe not.  So pardon me if I don’t jump up and down in joy.  On the other hand I take courage from the undoubted fact that every little bit of knowledge helps.  We’ll get this SOB yet.

By the way, check out the TGen web site.