Washington, March 14 (ANI): A gene that can simultaneously protect against cancer and favour its growth has been identified.

Researchers at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre who made the discovery suspect there may be many more genes that share this double-edged property.

In the words of Oscar Fernandez Capetillo, head of the group responsible for the study, this gene "can be both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, in that it can either protect us against the appearance of tumours or promote tumour growth".

The study co-authored by Andre's J. Lopez-Contreras and Paula Gutierrez Martinez, focuses on the activity of Chk1, a gene known for its tumour suppressing effect.

It is what Fernandez-Capetillo calls "a genome guardian, a gene that keeps our genome free of mutations and, therefore, protects against the development of tumours".

The team wished to ascertain whether the tumour-protective effect of Chk1 was magnified in organisms with a larger quantity of the protein it codes for, so they created a mouse with three copies of the gene instead of the normal two.

They then extracted and cultured the animal's cells and turned them cancerous with the aid of other genes. What they observed confounded all expectations: the cells became malignant more easily when carrying an extra copy of Chk1.

The reason for this paradox is that Chk1 has a beneficial effect on healthy cells, but also benefits tumour cells once they have established themselves in the body.

"Initially, Chk1 prevents the appearance of tumours, by limiting the spontaneous mutations that take place in our cells," explained Fernandez Capetillo.

"This is the Dr. Jekyll side. However, advanced tumours exhibit extensive damage to their DNA and it is here that Chk1 comes to the tumour's aid by reducing the damage built up in its genome," he said.

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Gene known to protect against cancer can also promote tumour growth