“Nobody puts Baby in a corner.”  That phrase has followed me my entire life.  It is my mother’s favorite movie.  It is my wife’s favorite movie.  I transferred ownership from one woman to another, and Dirty Dancing followed me.

I can’t complain much, as my wife has to watch Jurassic Park at least annually.  Still, I do not look forward to the inevitable night of boredom when she wants to again subject me to the ultimate chick flick.

Nobody argues with baby when she wants to watch Swayze.

Sadly, as you’re all aware, he’s no longer with us, claimed by the horrifying menace that is pancreatic cancer.  Luckily, we may have a new tool towards prevention.  In a recent issue of the AACR Journal Cancer Discovery, Dr. Alison Klein’s group at Johns Hopkins University reports the discovery of mutations in a gene that may lead to increased risk for developing pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest forms of the disease, with fewer than 5% of patients living past five years post-diagnosis.  There’s not much in the way of screening, and obviously treatment is only marginally effective.

Interestingly, about 10% of patients with the disease come from families with multiple cases.  This group of researchers decided to investigate that further, and luckily they were successful in their endeavors.

They found mutations in a gene called ATM that correlated with familial cases of pancreatic cancer. The ATM gene product has a very important role in fixing DNA damage, and so a potential role in causing cancer is not surprising.

Future research will continue to investigate the role of ATM mutations in causing the cancer, but now, at least, we have a new method to screen for increased risk of this disease in patients.

Thanks & Gig ‘Em.