Researchers identify important therapeutic target for lung cancer-small cell -
UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified a protein called ASCL1 which is essential for the development of lung cancer small cell and that, when they are deleted in the lungs of mice, prevents cancer from forming.
new results identify ASCL1 as an important therapeutic target for cell lung cancer, for which there has been little change in the treatment of the past 30 years.
"We used a transgenic mouse model that develops a human cell lung cancer and identified as two regulatory pathways which in turn vulnerabilities in this cancer, revealed," said the author principal, Dr. Jane E. Johnson, professor of neuroscience and pharmacology and a member of Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive cancer Center at UT Southwestern.
The results, published in the Journal Cell reports are important because the survival of patients with cell lung cancer is poor and few therapies are available.
"lung cancer small is a devastating disease which is diagnosed in 30,000 people per year in the United States and represents about 15 percent of cases of lung cancer. Most patients survive one year or less and therapy has not changed significantly in 30 years. Our work shows the possibility of developing entirely new types of targeted therapies for cell lung cancer by focusing on ASCL1 "said Dr. John D. Minna, professor and director of the Hamon Center for Therapeutic Oncology Research and director of the WA "Tex" and Deborah Moncrief Jr. Center for cancer Genetics. He is a professor of internal medicine and pharmacology, co-director of the Experimental Therapeutics of cancer Program Simmons cancer Center and Distinguished Chair holder Max L. Thomas in Molecular oncology lung, and Sarah M. and Charles E. Seay Distinguished Chair in cancer research.
Signs and symptoms of lung cancer cell include coughing, shortness of breath and chest pain, and rapid development of widespread disease around the body. patient smoking is the main risk factor for lung cancer small cell, according to the National Cancer Institute, which helped fund the study and prevention of cancer and the Texas Research Institute.
the research team, which included Dr. Melanie H. Cobb, acting director of the Simmons Cancer Center and professor of pharmacology, has determined that the ASCL1 protein found in most small tumors of cancer small cell lung is necessary for the formation of the disease. When the researchers deleted ASCL1 in the lungs of mice genetically engineered to develop lung cancer small cell loss prevented the development of cancer.
In addition, the researchers were able to distinguish between the tumor-promoting function ASCL1 and related proteins, NEUROD1 in lung cancer small cell. Some small cancers ASCL1 expressed cell lung while others expressed NEUROD1, and although both genes regulate different processes in cells, the two seem to control the genes that are important in the conduct of this cancer.
Dr. Johnson, holder of the Chair Distinguished Shirley and William S. McIntyre neuroscience, studied the roles of ASCL1 in the developing nervous system for many years, and was able to identify new roles for the protein in lung cancer small cell using UT Southwestern 'sGenomics and basic microarray facility that provides molecular advanced technologies and services to hundreds of researchers pursuing different research projects.
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