CHFR: A Silenced Suppressor Gene

Abstract

Abstract

CHFR is an oncogene serving as a current phenomenon in biomedical sciences, whose main function deals with the mitotic checkpoint, but can be detrimental to health if silenced. Better known as a suppressor, or “good guy,” CHFR causes the delay of prophase at the mitotic checkpoint and a reason for a delay in cell replication. Oncogene, the term most commonly associated with CHFR, describes genes that can cause normal cells to transform into tumor cells, once the gene is turned off. CHFR is silenced (deactivated) by CpG (consisting of nucleotide bases Guanine and Cytosine). Once the CHFR gene is silenced, the NF-kB pathway is activated and tumorigenesis proteins, including PARP-1, IL-8, and HDAC, become increasingly common in the new tumor cells, creating malignancies. As stated above, the CHFR is quickly becoming the centerpiece of cancer research, as its function proposes many questions for further research. Researchers are designing multiple experiments that focus at what occurs in silenced CHFR gene cells, and ways to permanently activate the gene so it can resume its role at delaying prophase at the mitotic checkpoint. Past research has mainly focused on the function of the CHFR gene and components it’s deactivation can affect. By observing CHFR knockout mice, performing assays on lysed cells, immunoprecipitations, reverse transcriptase, etc., researchers have obtained a better understanding of the CHFR gene the effects is silencing has on malignant cell mitosis.