BOB DOUGHTY:And this is Bob Doughty with Science in the News,a VOA Special English progrm about recent developments in science.
Today,we tell of a discovery about blood vessels and cancer.
We tell about a robot that eats food.And we tell why it is never too late to stop smoking.
SARAH LONG:Scientists at the Johns Hopkings University cancer center in Baltimore,Maryland have discovered what may be a new weapon against cancer.
They found forty-six genes that are active in the cells of blood vessels that supply blood to cancers.
The genes are not active in any other blood vessel cells.
Scientists led by Kenneth Kinzler and Bert Vogelstein made the discovery.
They found that seven of the genes seem to help in the creation of new blood vessels to cancers.
So,these genes may be necessary for a cancer to get more blood.
Without more blood,the cancer cannot grow.
BOB DOUGHTY:Scientists say they may be able to use these genes to develop new cancer treatments.
One such treatment might use drugs to prevent these genes from working.
That could prevent a cancer from forming new vessels to get the blood it needs.
Another treatment might use poisons to destroy a protein produced by genes to make blood vessels.
Scientists could attach the poison to a special antibody.
It would search through the body to find only that protein that builds blood vessels to cancers.
It would put the poison in the protein to destroy it.
Only that protein would be destroyed.Healthy tissue would not be harmed.
But the cancer would not get the blood it needs to grow.