Autism researchers have long believed that there is more than one gene involved in autism, and that these genes are interacting with one another to create the spectrum associated with the disorder.
For the first time, scientists at MIT found that mice carrying mutations in two candidate genes for autism have more severe symptoms than those with only one mutation. The two genes studied were PTEN and serotonin transporter. In female mice, mutations in PTEN impaired sociability while those who also had mutations in the serotonin gene had worse symptoms.
"We found that two genetic risk factors for autism spectrum …read more

Nature Genetics has published a report by scientists in US and Sweden who have discovered how a variant of the BRCA 1 gene helps breast cancer to grow by knocking out a tumor suppressor gene called PTEN.
The link between BRCA 1 and breast cancer was established 10 years ago but questions have been asked as to why this gene causes breast cancer.
PTEN is a key tumor suppressor gene which is knocked out in breast, brain and prostate cancers. PTEN mutations are second only to p53 as being the most frequently present in all cancers, affecting about 30% of them.
Once a cell loses PTEN it …read more