AN EXTRA copy of a gene on chromosome 21 may explain why people with Down’s syndrome are less likely to get breast and lung cancer than the rest of the population.
People with Down’s have three copies of chromosome 21 instead of two. A gene on chromosome 21 called DSCR1 is involved in controlling tumour growth. So at the Children’s Hospital in Boston and colleagues bred mice with three genes to find out if an extra copy gave them extra protection against cancer.
Tumours in these mice grew 50 per cent more slowly than those in healthy mice,…
