Poké7btb7

If you remember a news story we posted way back in January, and have heard recent rumors about Nintendo and Pokémon USA suing for using Pokémon in the cancer-causing gene name, here is the latest updated information. The name of a cancer-causing gene has been changed from "Pokemon" to "Zbtb7" after Pokémon USA threatened legal action to keep scientists from referring to the gene by the game's name, according to an article in science journal Nature. Science Journal Nature - January 2005 issue

In January's issue, geneticist Pier Paolo Pandolfi of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York describes the cancer-causing POK erythroid myeloid ontogenic gene, calling it Pokémon.

The gene in question is part of the POK gene family that encodes proteins that turn off other genes. POK proteins are critical in embryonic development, cellular differentiation and oncogenesis, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Nonplussed by the rush of headlines like "Pokémon causes cancer," Nintendo subsidiary Pokémon USA threatened legal action against the center to have the name of its popular game and trading-card series disassociated from the gene, the latest issue of Nature reports. The cancer center has complied with Pokemon's demands and now refers to the gene by the much-less-catchy moniker Zbtb7, Nature reports.