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US Scientists Successfully 'Switch Off' Cancer Cells

Posted by Soulskill on from the no-need-for-seek-and-destroy-missiles dept.

iONiUM sends news that Mayo Clinic cancer researchers have developed a technique to reprogram cancer cells in a lab, essentially "turning off" their excessive cell growth. That code was unraveled by the discovery that adhesion proteins — the glue that keeps cells together — interact with the microprocessor, a key player in the production of molecules called microRNAs (miRNAs). The miRNAs orchestrate whole cellular programs by simultaneously regulating expression of a group of genes (abstract). The investigators found that when normal cells come in contact with each other, a specific subset of miRNAs suppresses genes that promote cell growth. However, when adhesion is disrupted in cancer cells, these miRNAs are misregulated and cells grow out of control. The investigators showed, in laboratory experiments, that restoring the normal miRNA levels in cancer cells can reverse that aberrant cell growth.

1 of 52 comments (clear)

  1. Rundown by fey000 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    While the title is misleading click-bait, there is potential to this discovery. Here's a rundown:

    We already knew that miRNA (which is a regulator/anti-virus peptide working on DNA) was silencing tumour-suppressing genes, this is very old stuff.
    We already knew that re-introducing tumour suppressing proteins into cells that lack them would remove the carcinogenic behaviour.
    We did not know that adhesive proteins (a part of the external cell stuff that is commonly called Extra-Cellular Matrix (ECM)) regulated miRNA in proximal cells. This is very interesting stuff, and leads to several intriguing possibilities. What if you flood a cancer site with adhesive proteins attached to a membrane connecting peptide? Will that upregulate tumour-suppressing proteins? What happens when you do this to healthy cells? If the response in heathy cells is low, this could be a universal "low-risk, unknown reward" medication for multiple cancer types, something cancer treatment has long lacked (all non-crazy-person treatments are dangerous to healthy tissue now).

    So, while not the panacea the title suggests, it's certainly an intriguing discovery.