Researchers at Northwestern University have discovered a method that
goes a step further than chemo and stops the source that creates those cells.
Scientists observed that, in mice, the molecule miR-182 suppressed
tumors and reduced the expression of multiple oncogenes that cause
cancer to progress. The molecule works by blocking cancer cell death in
response to radiation and chemo, according to a news release. MiR-182
is a microRNA that can bind to hundreds of genes to reduce their
protein expression in cells. Human gliobastoma multiform patients with
greater levels of miR-182 also have higher survival rates than those
with lower levels.
SNAs, which are comprised of DNA and RNA located around a
nanoparticle center, are “a very promising platform to silence the
particular genes that drive or contribute to cancer progression in
individual patients,” senior study author Alexander Stegh, assistant
neurology and medicine professor at the Northwestern Feinberg School of
Medicine, said in the news release. Study co-author Chad Mirkin, a
medicine professor at Northwestern, invented SNAs, a technique that
prevents toxicity or activation of the immune system.
“Our approach to gene silencing has not been demonstrated before in
such a powerful way for the treatment of brain cancers,” Stegh said.
“These particles, microRNA-based SNAs, could also potentially be used
for gene silencing in other cancers and diseases of genetic origin.”
The study authors said further research will involve testing miR-182 with the nanoparticle delivery in human patients.
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