Gene stifled in some lung, breast cancers

Many genes encode proteins whose job is to inhibit cell growth. Some of these genes suppress the growth of tumors, and a few have become household names, such as the BRCA1 gene, which inhibits breast cancer.

A gene called RASSF1A could become the next member of this rarefied club. A study in the May 2 Journal of the National Cancer Institute establishes that many lung and breast tumors lack a functional RASSF1A.