Science / Medicine : Gene Causes Cancer in Mice

A single gene of the hepatitis B virus caused liver cancer in mice, raising the possibility of developing drugs to keep the virus from causing liver cancer in people, a researcher said last week.

The research also suggests that the virus triggers the cancer in people directly, rather than indirectly by first causing liver-damaging hepatitis, said Gilbert Jay.

Other scientists cautioned that the importance of the gene in human liver cancer is not clear. Another gene from the virus had also caused liver cancer in similar mouse experiments, said John Taylor of the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia.

But the new work suggests the virus starts the genetic ball rolling toward cancer without any need for hepatitis, said co-author Jay, a virus expert at the American Red Cross in Rockville, Md.

He and co-authors at the Red Cross and the National Institute of Health in Tokyo presented their results in the British journal Nature.