The Change Mariner

Growth signal discovery prompts pancreatic cancer hope

Health News (UK)

A team from Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center has discovered that a growth signal, which under normal circumstances is turned off in adult tissues, is turned back on again after damage to the pancreas.

The “Notch” pathway, when functioning normally, regulates embryonic development in a whole range of organisms, from fruit flies to humans. In adult tissues, the pathway becomes dormant as cells differentiate to perform specialised functions.