{"id":11234,"date":"2026-01-07T10:58:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T06:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/?p=11234"},"modified":"2026-01-07T10:58:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T06:58:12","slug":"scientists-have-discovered-a-rare-genetic-variant-that-protects-us-from-blood-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/scientists-have-discovered-a-rare-genetic-variant-that-protects-us-from-blood-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists have discovered a rare genetic variant that protects us from blood cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-path-to-node=\"2\"><span class=\"\">A new study published in the prestigious journal <\/span><b class=\"\" data-path-to-node=\"2\" data-index-in-node=\"49\">Science<\/b><span class=\"\"> has identified why some individuals are more resilient to blood cancer,<\/span><span class=\"\"> even when cancer-causing mutations are present in their bodies.<\/span><span class=\"\"> Researchers have successfully identified a rare genetic variant that significantly reduces the likelihood of developing leukemia and other similar diseases.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"3\"><span class=\"\">Blood cancer (including leukemia,<\/span><span class=\"\"> lymphoma,<\/span><span class=\"\"> and others) encompasses diseases that affect the blood,<\/span><span class=\"\"> bone marrow,<\/span><span class=\"\"> and lymphatic system.<\/span><span class=\"\"> In most cases,<\/span><span class=\"\"> these are caused by accumulated errors in DNA\u2014mutations\u2014that manifest as a person ages.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4\"><span class=\"\">The study\u2019s primary focus was on a process called <\/span><b class=\"\" data-path-to-node=\"4\" data-index-in-node=\"50\">clonal hematopoiesis (CH)<\/b><span class=\"\">.<\/span><span class=\"\"> This occurs when a blood-forming stem cell mutates and begins to produce a large population of identical mutated cells,<\/span><span class=\"\"> which serves as a precursor to the development of cancer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\"><span class=\"\">Scientists conducted a <\/span><b class=\"\" data-path-to-node=\"5\" data-index-in-node=\"23\">GWAS meta-analysis<\/b><span class=\"\"> involving more than 640,<\/span><span class=\"\">000 participants.<\/span><span class=\"\"> They discovered a specific variant on chromosome 17\u2014<\/span><b class=\"\" data-path-to-node=\"5\" data-index-in-node=\"136\">rs17834140-T<\/b><span class=\"\">\u2014which protects individuals from developing CH.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"6\"><span class=\"\">Experiments demonstrated that this genetic variant reduces the levels of the protein <\/span><b class=\"\" data-path-to-node=\"6\" data-index-in-node=\"85\">MSI2<\/b><span class=\"\">.<\/span><span class=\"\"> The MSI2 protein acts as a growth promoter for stem cells; in the context of cancer,<\/span><span class=\"\"> it forces mutated cells to proliferate rapidly and overtake the bone marrow.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"7\"><span class=\"\">However,<\/span><span class=\"\"> in those who carry this protective variant,<\/span><span class=\"\"> MSI2 levels are lower.<\/span><span class=\"\"> Consequently,<\/span><span class=\"\"> mutated cells grow much more slowly,<\/span><span class=\"\"> and the chance of them transforming into leukemia decreases.<\/span><span class=\"\"> It was determined that individuals with this variant have a <\/span><b class=\"\" data-path-to-node=\"7\" data-index-in-node=\"248\">30% lower risk<\/b><span class=\"\"> of developing blood cancer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"8\"><span class=\"\">This discovery fundamentally shifts the approach to fighting the disease.<\/span><span class=\"\"> Instead of medicine only confronting fully-formed tumors,<\/span><span class=\"\"> scientists now have the opportunity to develop medications that mimic the body&#8217;s natural defense mechanisms.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"9\"><span class=\"\">Learning how natural resilience to cancer is formed through inherited genetic factors marks a turning point for modern medicine.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"9\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/science.adx4174\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Science<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new study published in the prestigious journal Science has identified why some individuals are more resilient to blood cancer, even when cancer-causing mutations are present in their bodies. Researchers have successfully identified a rare genetic variant that significantly reduces the likelihood of developing leukemia and other similar diseases. Blood cancer (including leukemia, lymphoma, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11233,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1594,1587,1657],"tags":[1865,1579,3755,1754],"class_list":["post-11234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-research","category-science","tag-blood-cancer","tag-cancer","tag-genetic-variant","tag-genetika"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11234"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11237,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11234\/revisions\/11237"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}