STAT5 and Cancer
STAT5 has been found to be constitutively phosphorylated in cancer cells, implying that the protein is always present in its active form. This constant activation is brought about either by mutations or by aberrant expressions of cell signalling, resulting in poor regulation, or complete lack of control, of the activation of transcription for genes influenced by STAT5. This leads to constant and increased expression of these genes. For example, mutations may lead to increased expression of anti-apoptotic genes, the products of which actively prevent cell death. The constant presence of these products preserve the cell in spite of it having become cancerous, causing the cell to eventually become malignant.
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Famous quotes containing the word cancer:
“I wish more and more that health were studied half as much as disease is. Why, with all the endowment of research against cancer is no study made of those who are free from cancer? Why not inquire what foods they eat, what habits of body and mind they cultivate? And why never study animals in health and natural surroundings? why always sickened and in an environment of strangeness and artificiality?”
—Sarah N. Cleghorn (1976–1959)