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Tomato genes have ‘gene therapy’ potential

March 30, 2010, Lund, Sweden –
Tomato genes could be used as
a future treatment in gene therapy, according to new research results
from Lund
University.

March 30, 2010, Lund, Sweden – Tomato genes could be used as
a future treatment in gene therapy, according to new research results from Lund
University .

Jure Piskur (at left) is a professor at the Department of Biology,
Lund University. Together with colleagues from Stockholm, Copenhagen and Lund,
he has recently published research results on a tomato gene that it seems could
be of value in future treatment of brain tumours. The results are reported in
the journal Neuro-Oncology.

Research on gene therapy has been underway for a long time
and last autumn the first gene therapy treatment was launched onto the market,
by Ark Therapeutics from Kuopio in Finland.

The idea of gene therapy is to introduce an alien gene into
a patient’s cancer cells. In combination with a specific drug, the introduced
gene can cause the cancer cells to die. The tumour does not disappear, but the
hope is that the disease can be halted for a couple of years.

“Our research results on the tomato gene show a superior
alternative to the main ingredient that they have started using in Finland and
we have now begun cooperating with the researchers in Kuopio”, says Piskur.