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==C-myc's Role in Cancer==  

C-myc's proliferation is induced by enhancers that help to increase immunoglobin genes functions. It has been seen that the greater amount of C-myc present the higher the chances that cancer is also present. Cancer is often able to grow best in people with weakened immune systems. Since the immune system is weak the T-cells pass over the cancer without noticing that anything is wrong. This combined with the fact that these enhancers cause C-myc to rapidly produce cells is causing cancer in a body that cannot fight it off. The newly formed cells continue to grow on each other. This causes a tumor that is cancerous that is unnoticed. The most common form of cancer that c-myc plays a role in is Burkitt's Lymphoma.

C-myc can not be induced by enhancers unless it has translocated from its normal spot on chromosome 8 to another chromosome.  When C-myc is translocated to a spot next to a gene that is an immunoglobin enhancer gene it can eventually become a tumor.  The reason for this is that when these genes code for the body to make more B-cells, they inadvertantly turn on the gene adjacent to them as well.  Since C-myc is now the new gene next to the enhancer gene it starts to create a lot of C-myc RNA and it then becomes C-myc transcription factor.  The factor then induces cells to divide very rapidly.  The cells then keep dividing until they have formed a cancerous tumor.  This process shows that one cell is all that is needed to create a tumor.  It has been estimated that 100,000 of the cancer related deaths per year in the United Sates are associated with changes in the C-myc gene or its expression.

== References ==