Tumor-suppressant protein Rb key to retinoblastoma treatment

Researchers at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have linked the Rb protein to proper retinal development in mice and believe the finding may lead to better treatments for childhood retinoblastoma.

The tumor-suppressor Rb “limits the proliferation of immature retinal cells so the retina develops to a normal size,” the researchers announced in a press release. The same protein prompts cells to develop into rods, they said.

Children without the gene for Rb are at a high risk of developing retinoblastoma, but mice without the gene are at no greater risk, the researchers said. They further state the study “provides strong evidence that retinoblastoma is a developmental tumor, caused by a genetic abnormality in a tissue or organ present in the developing embryo. Following birth, this abnormality triggers cancer in that tissue or organ during infancy or childhood.”