Gene amplification is a form of genomic instability , a hallmark of cancer cells. A comprehensive cloning effort by the Division is about to change this situation.
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most difficult cancers to diagnose early and treat curatively.
Other studies which appeared in the 1999 publication from the Division include a molecular and epidemiological study on the effects of radiation on carcinogenesis. Structure of three common amplicons, those at chromosome regions 10q26, 11q13.3 and 17q12, has been analyzed in the Division. The K- SAM gene encoding the fibroblast and keratinocyte growth factor receptors is the only gene present in the 10q26 core amplification unit. Sequence analysis around the deletion junctions showed the presence of unique sequences, suggesting the involvement of short homology- mediated recombination in the generation of the deletions. An approximately 500- kb region has been sequenced to cover the amplification unit.