The chromosome 18q21 deletion in nearly one third of pancreatic adenocarcinomas eliminates not only the tumor suppressor SMAD4, but also neighboring genes with important cellular roles, such as ME2 This is tolerated by cancer cells only because ME2 has a functionally redundant paralog, ME3, elsewhere in the genome. A study shows that these cells are vulnerable to ME3 silencing; this concept of collateral lethality could provide a new therapeutic strategy for a difficult-to-treat disease.
©2017 American Association for Cancer Research.