— Early sign of Alzheimer's reversed in lab — One of the earliest known impairments caused by Alzheimer's disease - loss of sense of smell - can be restored by removing a plaque-forming protein in a mouse model of the disease,…
— Parental controls on embryonic development? — When a sperm fertilises an egg, each contributes a set of chromosomes to the resulting embryo, which at these very early stages is called a zygote. Early on, zygotic genes are inert,…
— Newly discovered heart stem cells make muscle and bone — Researchers have identified a new and relatively abundant pool of stem cells in the heart. The findings in the December issue of Cell Stem Cell, a Cell Press publication, show that…
— BUSM researchers develop blood test to detect membranous nephropathy — Research conducted by a pair of physicians at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Centre (BMC) has led to the development of a test that can help diagnose…
— New hip implants no better than traditional implants — New hip implants appear to have no advantage over traditional implants, suggests a review of the evidence published on bmj.com today…
— Action needed to improve men's health in Europe — Policies aimed specifically at men are urgently needed to improve the health of Europe's men, say experts on bmj.com today…
— Probiotics reduce infections for patients in intensive care — Traumatic brain injury is associated with a profound suppression of the patient's ability to fight infection. At the same time the patient also often suffers hyper-inflammation, due…
— High blood sugar levels in older women linked to colorectal cancer — Elevated blood sugar levels are associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer, according to a study led by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.…
— Engineered botulism toxins could have broader role in medicine — The most poisonous substance on Earth - already used medically in small doses to treat certain nerve disorders and facial wrinkles - could be re-engineered for an expanded role in helping…
MicroRNA-mediated metastasis suppression
Metastases are responsible for over 90% of cancer deaths. In the upcoming issue of G and D, Dr Robert Weinberg (MIT) and colleagues lend molecular insight into how microRNAs suppress tumour metastasis.
Scott Valastyan, lead author on the study, describes it as presenting 'detailed mechanistic insight regarding the process of tumour metastasis, and identifies several key regulators of this process that might prove to be interesting diagnostic and/or therapeutic targets in breast cancer.'
Dr Weinberg's group previously showed that the human microRNA, miR-31, suppresses breast cancer metastasis and that its expression is associated with patient outcome. miR-31 regulates the expression of almost 200 genes. However, in this new paper, the authors identify that re-introduction of three miR-31 targets is sufficient to completely reverse miR-31's influence on metastasis.
The researchers characterised both the individual and overlapping contributions that each of these three miR-31 effectors makes to the metastatic process. While three distinct steps are affected by this cohort of miR-31 targets (namely local invasion, early post-intravasation events and metastatic colonisation), of particular interest was the finding that two of the three effectors regulate metastatic colonisation - the final and rate-limiting step of metastasis.
Scott Valastyan emphasises that 'Our finding that miR-31, integrin-alpha5, and radixin affect the process of metastatic colonisation may be of particular interest in light of the fact that colonisation efficiency is strongly associated with patient survival outcome in many human tumour types - including breast cancer.'
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