Thursday, November 30, 2023
SCIENMAG: Latest Science and Health News
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Scienmag - Latest science news from science magazine
No Result
View All Result
Home SCIENCE NEWS Cancer

Epigenetic regulation of metastatic breast cancer progression may guide prognosis and future therapy

January 7, 2016
in Cancer
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Boston-A gene that plays a role in the development of breast cancer to metastatic disease has been identified which may help to predict disease progression and serve as a target for the development of future breast cancer therapies.

These findings by Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) researchers currently appear in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Researchers have identified a gene called serum deprivation response (SDPR) and the mechanisms by which this gene is down-regulated, or silenced, in breast cancer cells promoting tumor spread. Using a breast cancer progression model, the team identified that aggressive, metastatic breast cancer cells had little or no genetic expression of SDPR and furthermore that when it is over-expressed (or turned on) this gene in models of breast cancer cells with propensity for metastasis, there was a significant reduction in the incidence of metastatic disease.

Despite the advent of advanced technologies, the discovery of new metastasis suppressor genes such as SDPR that prevent the spread of breast cancer to distal sites using genomic efforts has been slow potentially due to their primary mode of regulation by epigenetic mechanisms as shown in this case by the researchers at BUSM. The current study reveals the importance of gene regulation by epigenetic rather than genetic mechanisms enabling the cancer cells to readily adapt to new microenvironments of the various organs of the human body at sites away from the initial sites at which the cancer cells formed.

According to the researchers this work is crucial as metastatic dissemination of breast cancer cells represents a significant clinical obstacle to curative therapy and spreading of the cancer is the major cause of death of patients affected by breast and other cancers. "It is of utmost importance to understand the underlying molecular mechanisms that facilitate/prevent cancer metastasis," explains corresponding author Sam Thiagalingam, BUSM associate professor of medicine, genetics and genomics, pathology and laboratory medicine.

The researchers also found that SDPR loss was not limited to breast cancer, as tumor samples from bladder, colorectal, lung, pancreatic and ovarian cancers as well as sarcomas also exhibited loss of SDPR expression based on in silico meta-analysis of publicly available data, suggesting its functional role as a metastasis suppressor is likely to impact multiple cancers.

"While this is a significant advance in deciphering the molecular basis of the metastatic disease and may help to predict progression to metastatic cancer, its potential importance in the development of future precision cancer therapies have yet to be worked out from the identification of druggable targets regulated by SDPR," added Thiagalingam.

###

Contact: Gina DiGravio, 617-638-8480, ginad@bu.edu

Sait Ozturk, PhD, the lead author of the paper was a graduate student at BUSM in Molecular and Translational Medicine Program. This work was supported by grants from Susan G. Komen for the Cure (KG081435) and the NIH (CA165707). Additional support for this work was provided by a Seed grant from the BU Genome Science Institute and the Research Promotion Foundation of Cyprus (DIDATOR 0609/24).

Media Contact

Gina DiGravio
ginad@bu.edu
617-638-8480
@BostonUNews

http://www.bmc.org

Share25Tweet16Share4ShareSendShare
  • Scientists discover rare 6-planet system that moves in strange synchrony

    Scientists discover rare 6-planet system that moves in strange synchrony

    68 shares
    Share 27 Tweet 17
  • Ohio State receives $14 million to study optimal aspirin therapy in pregnancy

    68 shares
    Share 27 Tweet 17
  • AI image generator Stable Diffusion perpetuates racial and gendered stereotypes, study finds

    67 shares
    Share 27 Tweet 17
  • ‘Dolomite Problem’: 200-year-old geology mystery resolved

    69 shares
    Share 28 Tweet 17
  • The dangers of being a saber-toothed cat in Los Angeles 12,000 years ago

    89 shares
    Share 36 Tweet 22
  • Rise of microplastics discovered in placentas of HawaiĘ»i mothers

    65 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 16
ADVERTISEMENT

About us

We bring you the latest science news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Latest NEWS

Collaboration between women helps close the gender gap in ice core science

“Amaterasu” particle: a new cosmic mystery

Alcohol consumption and epigenetic age acceleration across human adulthood

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 208 other subscribers

© 2023 Scienmag- Science Magazine: Latest Science News.

No Result
View All Result
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US

© 2023 Scienmag- Science Magazine: Latest Science News.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In