Chinese scientists for the first time in the world disclosed today a whole set of genes which play a key role in treating an acute form of Leukemia.

The 169 genes can be adjusted by ATRA, a chemical element derived from Vitamin A, to form a genetic system which controls the division of white blood cells and help cure acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), according to Chinese scientists' research paper which was published in today's edition of "Blood," a prestigious magazine on hematology.

The paper has shown a lot of work and is very important and meaningful, said Prof. Kenneth Kaushansky, the chief editor of the magazine in a congratulatory letter.

In the mid 1980s, Wang Zhenyi from the Shanghai Hematology Institute and other Chinese scientists succeeded in using ATRA to treat APL, one of the most dangerous forms of leukemia in clinical medicine. But it still remained a "riddle" for scientists in the world to find out how the chemical works in treating the disease.

Scientists at the Shanghai Hematology Institute, Shanghai Institute of Cell Biology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the South Center of the National Genome Research have cooperated in finding ATRA-controlled genes with methods of functional gene research, and discovered the 169 genes and how they form a network to prevent the growth of diseased cells.

They have also cloned eight new genes which are under the control of ATRA, which provides new material for the next stage of research.

The research findings has provided theoretical guidance for the use of a drug in APL treatment and will also provide evidence for the treatment of other types of leukemia and tumors, said Chen Kaixian, an academician with the CAS and head of the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica.

　　(From China Daily)