Indiana Gazette from Indiana, Pennsylvania • 6

Poge 6 Fridoy, December 23, 1994 flUje Cancer cells have 'immortality' enzyme lias been aeveiopea, ne saia companies such as Geron may have a product ready for testing within two years. vulnerable point of attack against manv types of cancer. A drug that would block the action of telomerase would prevent cancer from avoiding tbe effects of normal aging, he said. "Basically, you would be re-mor-talizing those cells," Shay said. Although no telomerase blocker Science, which published the "What this demonstrates is that telomerase is linked to cell immortality in cancer," said Jerry Shay, a professor of cell biology at the Texas medical center.

"It gives many kinds of cancer an unlimited ability to proliferate." Shay said this enzyme could be a study, is the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. eign Relations Committee, whose incoming chairman is Jesse Helms, Hormel operates a firm that invests his family's meat industry fortune, and works on charitable and civic activities including AIDS services and public television. He was expected to become the first openly gay U.S. ambassador. Democratic National Committee member Carole Migden.

a San Francisco supervisor and Rothschild's predecessor as party chairman, also condemned the decision to drop Hormel's nomination. 'His rejection once again under- scores the spineless approach of the Clinton administration to the gay and lesbian community," she said. "Jim Hormel served the Democratic Party loyally for decades, and he's very deserving of the post." Clinton courted gay voles during the 1992 campaign, but has angered many gay political leaders by compromising on the issue of gays in military and firing Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders over comments at an AIDS forum about sex education. Clinton denies post to gay man SAN FRANCISCO President Clinton is being accused by fellow Democrats of denying an ambassadorship to an openly gay San Francisco philanthropist in deference to the new power of conservatives in Congress. "It's an outrage.

It's a victory for Matthew Rothschild, chairman of the Democratic Party in San Francisco, said Thursday. "Bill Clinton doesn't have a backbone is he against bigotry or not?" Rothschild was responding to a report in The Washington Post that Clinton had decided not to nominate James C. Hormel as ambassador to Fiji. The nomination would require confirmation from the Senate For i me bian ana nesiuema 3 By PAUL RECER AP Science Writer WASHINGTON Cancer cells contain an enzyme that lets them reproduce without limits, while ordinary cells undergo a process of aging and death, according to a study using a sensitive new analysis technique. Scientists at the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and at Geron Corp.

in Menlo Park, reported today in the journal Science that the new test delected an enzyme called te-lomerase in scores of cancer specimens but not in other types of cells. The study boosts the theory that cancer colonies remain youthful and vigorous because the cells divide endlessly without eroding a chromosome structure called the telomere. In norma) cells, the telomere is shortened slightly each time a cell divides. After many cell generations, the telomere disappears, causing cells to stop dividing and eventually to die. This is thought to be an element in aging.

The telomere is made up of DNA segments that help control the accuracy of genetic reproduction when a cell divides to create a new cell. In cancer cells, it is thought that the telomere does not erode with each cell division, thus enabling cancer cells, in a sense, to be "immortal." Telomeres in cancer cells are thought to be protected and even renewed by the enzyme telom- 'l BEACON MANOR lunch auarunnt wish everyone SWEET TIDINGS a Safe and TO YOU Hope your holiday is filled with lots of sweet surprises. Serving you has been a real treat for us. BRIZZI CAINDY AND NUT SHOP 48 E. Market Blairsville 459-7160 fl "The Shining Light in Nursing Home Care" 1515 WAYNE AVENUE INDIANA, PA Phone (412)349-5300 mi i University of Texas and Geron researchers said they found telomerase in 98 of 100 laboratory cancer cell lines and in 90 of 101 biopsies from 12 different types of human cancers.

The enzyme, however, was not found in any of 22 normal cell cultures or in any of 50 normal or benign biopsies. Tree of Hope untouched by mall blaze ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) The hopes of hundreds of American Cancer Society donors didn't go up in flames in the Logan Valley Mall fire last week. They weren't even singed. The roof outside J.C.

Penney Co. collapsed. The blaze gutted nearly every store from there to Sears, Roebuck Co. But the society's Memorial Tree of Hope stood, green and unscathed. "Everything else melted and burned, and that tree was left standing," said Executive Director Karry Bachteli.

"Everyone thought it was rather symbolic." The fire early Friday raged right up to Penney's interior door, halted by firefighters' efforts and a firewall. As the blaze died down later that morning, a few firefighters talked about the tree's survival. "The firemen said the whole roof collapsed and there's debris all around it," Bachteli said. "We just think it's a symbol, that it's a tree of hope." For each of the past six years, nearly 100 volunteers collected donations from mall shoppers who wrote the names of cancer patients or survivors on a card and placed them on the tree. It's late, but jS IGBEEI Christmas Day is near, The time of joy and cheer.

Now all tint's left to do. Is thank each and every one of you! Paul Lefko Richard Mock Associates 521 Airport Office Professional Center, Indiana. Pennsylvania 15701 (412) 349-4055 Your Home Town Full Service Insurance Agency American 5 Outfitters Jfifw GIFT Jim while visions of sugarplums dance in their PerfalForEveryone tes-''! 1 oniourusL As we celebrate our third Christmas in Indiana, we thank our many new friends and patients for making our home here so successful. We realize there are many alternatives to vision care and we appreciate your choosing our office. We wish you all happiness, health and a wonderful life.

Dr. Gary Price and Staff A- 4 1 Tie Leader In Name Brand Fashions Westmoreland Mall The Galleria Indiana Mall Indiana 465 -43 SO Groensbura 837-6311 Johnstown 266-1449.