ancer cells fueled by the mutant KRAS oncogene, which makes them notoriously difficult to treat, can be killed by blocking a more vulnerable genetic partner of KRAS, report scientists at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. The laboratory results, published by Nature on its Web site as an advanced online publication and later in a print edition, demonstrate a potential advance against many major tumors which, because they harbor the mutant KRAS cancer gene, are highly aggressive and respond poorly to treatment. By targeting the second, more easily inhibited "co-dependent" gene, TBK, the strategy bypasses the so far unfruitful head-on assault against the highly resistant KRAS gene.
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