http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. A research team pursuing one of the most commonly altered genes in cancer has laid a critical foundation for understanding this gene that could point the way toward developing drugs against it. A recent study of cancer genetics pointed to the gene MCL1, which encodes a protein that helps keep cells alive. The new research pinpoints compounds that repress MCL1's activity and highlights an important companion gene that predicts if a tumor is dependent upon MCL1 for survival. Together, these tools suggest a path toward new therapeutics directed at MCL1. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-cancer-gene-mcl1.html Cancer Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:38:29 EST news253798700