NATURE AND THE NATURE RESEARCH JOURNALS PRESS RELEASE
For papers that will be published online on 08 October 2006
This press release is copyrighted to the Nature journals mentioned below.
This press release contains:
* Summaries of newsworthy papers:
New breast cancer susceptibility gene identified - Nature Genetics
* Mention of papers to be published at the same time with the same embargo
* Geographical listing of authors
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PLEASE CITE THE SPECIFIC NATURE JOURNAL AND WEBSITE AS THE SOURCE OF THE FOLLOWING ITEMS. IF PUBLISHING ONLINE, PLEASE CARRY A HYPERLINK TO THE APPROPRIATE JOURNAL’S WEBSITE.
**********************************NATURE GENETICS ************************
(<http://www.nature.com/naturegenetics>)
[1] New breast cancer susceptibility gene identified
DOI: 10.1038/ng1902
Women with mutations in a gene called BRIP1 have twice the normal risk of breast cancer, according to a study to be published in the November issue of Nature Genetics.
Mutations in three genes - BRCA1, BRCA2, and TP53 - are known to greatly increase the chance of developing breast cancer over a lifetime: for example, women carrying a BRCA mutation have a 50-80% chance of developing the disease. Mutations in two other genes - CHEK2 and ATM - confer a much more modest risk. Nazneen Rahman and colleagues screened 1,212 women with breast cancer, who did not have mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2, for mutations in BRIP1. They report that nine of these women had mutations in the BRIP1 gene, which most likely inactivates the BRIP1 protein; only two of 2,081 women in a 'control' group without breast cancer demonstrated such mutations.
The authors estimate - by taking into consideration information from the control group and the families of affected individuals - that BRIP1 mutations result in an approximately two-fold increase in the risk of breast cancer, which puts the gene into the same class as CHEK2 and ATM. They believe that mutations in these so-called ‘low-penetrance’ susceptibility genes likely only predispose to cancer in concert with other mutations and/or environmental factors, and account for only a small fraction of the familial risk of breast cancer. Like the other risk genes, BRIP1 is involved in DNA repair, lending support to the idea that unrepaired DNA damage is a key trigger for breast cancer development.
Author contact:
Nazneen Rahman (Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, UK)
Tel: +44 208 722 4026; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Genetics to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo
[2] DMP1 mutations in autosomal recessive hypophosphatemia implicate a bone matrix protein in the regulation of phosphate homeostasis
DOI: 10.1038/ng1868
[3] Loss of DMP1 causes rickets and osteomalacia and identifies a role for osteocytes in mineral metabolism
DOI: 10.1038/ng1905
[4] Nuclear organization of active and inactive chromatin domains uncovered by colocalized chromatin capture and characterization (4C)
DOI: 10.1038/ng1896
[5] Circular chromosome conformation capture (4C) uncovers extensive networks of epigenetically regulated intra- and interchromosomal interactions
DOI: 10.1038/ng1891
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Items from other Nature journals to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
Nature (<http://www.nature.com/nature>)
[6] Surface expression of MHC class II in dendritic cells is controlled by regulated ubiquitination
DOI: 10.1038/nature05261
NATURE CHEMICAL BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/nchembio <http://www.nature.com/natureneuroscience>)
[7] Inhibitors of Polo-like kinase reveal roles in spindle pole maintenance
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio825
[8] Probing cell division phenotype space and mitotic spindle assembly mechanisms using small molecule inhibitors
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio826
Nature PHYSICS (http://www.nature.com/naturephysics <http://www.nature.com/naturematerials>)
[9] Unconventional motional narrowing in the optical spectrum of a semiconductor quantum dot
DOI: 10.1038/nphys433
[10] Phonons in a one-dimensional microfluidic crystal
DOI: 10.1038/nphys432
NATURE MATERIALS (<http://www.nature.com/naturematerials>)
[11] Exciton polarizability in semiconductor nanocrystals
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1739
[12] Magnetic imaging of a supercooling glass transition in a weakly disordered ferromagnet
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1743
Nature NEUROSCIENCE (<http://www.nature.com/natureneuroscience>)
[13] Limited transfer of learning between unimanual and bimanual skills within the same limb
DOI: 10.1038/nn1785
[14] Ongoing eye movements constrain visual perception
DOI: 10.1038/nn1782
[15] Force field effects on cerebellar Purkinje cell discharge with implications for internal models
DOI: 10.1038/nn1783
[16] An allocentric rather than perceptual deficit in patient D.F.
DOI: 10.1038/nn1784
[17] Discrimination learning induced by training with identical stimuli
DOI: 10.1038/nn1787
Nature IMMUNOLOGY (<http://www.nature.com/natureimmunology>)
[18] T cell anergy is reversed by active GTPase Ras and is regulated by diacylglycerol kinase-alpha
DOI: 10.1038/ni1394
[19] Disruption of Diacylglycerol Metabolism Impairs T Cell Anergy
DOI: 10.1038/ni1400
[20] RhoH GTPase recruits and activates Zap70 required for T-cell receptor signaling and thymocyte development
DOI: 10.1038/ni1396
NATURE CELL BIOLOGY (<http://www.nature.com/naturecellbiology>)
[21] A common lipid links Mfn-mediated mitochondrial fusion and SNARE-regulated exocytosis
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1487
[22] Mitogenic signalling and the p16INK4a-Rb pathway cooperate to enforce irreversible cellular senescence
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1491
Nature STRUCTURAL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (<http://www.nature.com/natstructmolbiol>)
[23] RNA polymerase II C-terminal domain mediates regulation of alternative splicing by SRp20
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1155
[24] Amino acid residues in Rag1 crucial for DNA hairpin formation
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1154
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GEOGRAPHICAL LISTING OF AUTHORS
The following list of places refers to the whereabouts of authors on the papers numbered in this release. The listing may be for an author's main affiliation, or for a place where they are working temporarily. Please see the PDF of the paper for full details.
ARGENTINA
Buenos Aires: 23
CANADA:
Edmonton: 18
Halifax: 2
Kingston: 13
Montreal: 2, 3
Ottawa: 3
FRANCE
Grenoble: 9
Paris: 9
GERMANY
Brussels: 2
Frankfurt am Main: 2
Freiburg: 18
Hanau: 2
Leipzig: 21
Munich: 2
Munich-Neuherberg: 2
ISRAEL
Rehovot: 10
JAPAN
Fukuoka: 22
Hiroshima: 22
Kumamoto: 22
Kure: 22
Saitama: 13
Sendai: 22
Tokushima: 22
Tokyo: 13
NETHERLANDS
Amsterdam: 4, 11
Rotterdam: 4
SOUTH KOREA
Incheon: 12
SPAIN
Zaragoza: 2
SWEDEN
Uppsala: 5
UNITED KINGDOM
Cambridge: 1, 7
Dundee: 7
Durham: 16
Edinburgh: 7
Glasgow: 7
Hinxton: 1
London: 17
Manchester: 1
Nottingham: 7, 17
Southampton: 1
Sutton: 1
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
California
La Jolla: 14
Pasadena: 21
Connecticut
New Haven: 6
Illinois
Chicago: 18, 24
Indiana
Indianapolis: 3
Kansas
Kansas City: 3
Massachusetts
Boston: 2
Minnesota
Minneapolis: 15
Missouri
Kansas City: 3
New Jersey
Piscataway: 12
New York
New York: 8, 11, 24
Stony Brook: 21
North Carolina
Durham: 19
Ohio
Cincinnati: 20
Cleveland: 11
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia: 19
South Carolina
Columbia: 7
Texas
Austin: 12
Houston: 24
Utah
Salt Lake City: 19
Wisconsin
Madison: 3
PRESS CONTACTS…
For media inquiries relating to embargo policy for all the Nature Research Journals:
Helen Jamison (Nature London)
Tel: +44 20 7843 4658; E-mail: [email protected]
Ruth Francis (Senior Press Officer, Nature, London)
Tel: +44 20 7843 4562; E-mail: [email protected]
For media inquiries relating to editorial content/policy for the Nature Research Journals, please contact the journals individually:
Nature Cell Biology (London)
Bernd Pulverer
Tel: +44 20 7843 4892; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Chemical Biology (Boston)
Andrea Garvey
Tel: +1 617 475 9241, E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Genetics (New York)
Alan Packer
Tel: +1 212 726 9277; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Immunology (New York)
Laurie Dempsey
Tel: +1 212 726 9372; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Materials (London)
Maria Bellantone
Tel: +44 20 7843 4556; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Neuroscience (New York)
Sandra Aamodt (based in California)
Tel: +1 530 795 3256; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Physics (London)
Alison Wright
Tel: +44 20 7843 4555; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology (New York)
Michelle Montoya
Tel: +1 212 726 9326; E-mail: [email protected]
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