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Human Genome Project Information Archive
1990–2003

Archive Site Provided for Historical Purposes


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Human Genome News Archive Edition
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Vol.11, No. 3-4   July 2001

Role of Key Breast Cancer Gene Identified

Researchers Genevieve Nonet, Martha Stampfer, and Paul Yaswen at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Joe Gray, Koei Chin, and Colin Collins at the University of California, San Francisco, published an article focusing on the functional characterization of the gene ZNF217 in the February 15th issue of Cancer Research 61. The gene is located in a region of chromosome 20 found to have an increased copy number in many tumors, including 40% of breast cancer cell lines. Reintroduction of the ZNF217 gene into normal human breast cells in culture enables the cells to grow past the point at which they would normally stop. In addition to becoming immortal, the epithelial cells containing ZNF217 gain several other features characteristic of tumor cells, such as the ability to express telomerase. These results support the hypothesis that ZNF217 plays a role in breast cancer by allowing the cells to continue growing and accumulating other changes necessary for malignant progression.


The electronic form of the newsletter may be cited in the following style:
Human Genome Program, U.S. Department of Energy, Human Genome News (v11n3-4).

Human Genome Project 1990–2003

The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international 13-year effort, 1990 to 2003. Primary goals were to discover the complete set of human genes and make them accessible for further biological study, and determine the complete sequence of DNA bases in the human genome. See Timeline for more HGP history.

Human Genome News

Published from 1989 until 2002, this newsletter facilitated HGP communication, helped prevent duplication of research effort, and informed persons interested in genome research.