(Press-News.org) KU Leuven researchers have zeroed in on what makes cancer cells in melanoma so aggressive. They also succeeded in taming the effect in cell cultures. Melanoma, a type of skin cancer, is notoriously quick to metastasize and responds poorly to existing cancer treatments. In their study, published in Nature Communications, the researchers report a significant step forward in the characterization and potential treatment of melanoma.
Human DNA contains genetic information that makes our cells functional entities within a larger whole. The stream of information from DNA to function happens in the form of proteins that anchor themselves to various locations in the DNA and transcribe genetic information into functional cell parts. This process is strictly regulated and is thus very sensitive to change by external factors.
Such changes, called gene-regulatory or epigenomic changes, can alter the regular stream of information between the DNA and the cell without actually altering the DNA itself.
In their study, Professor Stein Aerts (KU Leuven) and Professor Chris Marine (VIB/KU Leuven) were able to confirm that epigenomic changes play an important role in the development and progression of melanoma.
Previous research has shown that melanomas are made up of various types of cells. Each subpopulation of cells in the tumour has different characteristics. What makes melanoma so aggressive, say the researchers, is the existence of a subpopulation that causes progression and metastasis of the cancer. These cells also increase the resistance of the tumour to current cancer drugs.
The researchers found that these subpopulations do not arise from mutations or errors in the DNA itself but are the result of changes in the stream of information from the DNA to the cell. In a first phase of cancer, specific proteins bind themselves to specific locations in the DNA, which allow the tumour to grow. In a second, more aggressive phase, other proteins are activated that bind to other DNA sites, which allow the cancer cells to invade and spread to other tissues in the body.
Professor Aerts and his team succeeded in mapping the epigenomic landscape in both phases of melanoma progression. They identified the proteins and the thousands of regions on the DNA to which the proteins bound themselves. Furthermore, when the researchers knocked out these proteins, the melanoma became much less aggressive and more receptive to existing cancer drugs.
This is the first complete epigenomic profile of melanoma and the first study to map the regulatory landscape of the different melanoma cell states.
The results contribute to a more complete picture of cancer cells during melanoma progression and constitute an important step forward in the search for more targeted, more effective therapies for this aggressive type of cancer.
INFORMATION:
Collisions with birds are one of the most common hazards to aircraft, causing $700 million in damage annually in the U.S. A study published this week in The Condor: Ornithological Applications may have important implications for reducing bird strikes through the customization of aircraft and runway lights to birds' visual systems. Megan Doppler and Esteban Fernández-Juricic of Purdue University and Bradley Blackwell and Travis DeVault of the National Wildlife Research Center's Ohio Field Station conducted experiments involving captive cowbirds and remote-controlled ...
Cincinnati, OH, April 9, 2015 -- Melanoma is an aggressive form of skin cancer that has been increasing in incidence in adults over the past 40 years. Although pediatric melanoma is rare (5-6 children per million), most studies indicate that incidence has been increasing. In a new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers found that the incidence of pediatric melanoma in the United States actually has decreased from 2004-2010.
Laura B. Campbell, MD, and colleagues from Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals (UH) Case ...
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health researchers say that levels of radon in Pennsylvania homes - where 42 percent of readings surpass what the U.S. government considers safe - have been on the rise since 2004, around the time that the fracking industry began drilling natural gas wells in the state.
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EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 8-APR-2015 19:00 ET (8-APR-2015 23:00 GMT)
A test for a wide range of genetic risk factors could improve doctors' ability to work out which women are at increased risk of developing breast cancer, a major study of more than 65,000 women has shown.
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A team of researchers from the University of Cambridge have unravelled one of the mysteries of electromagnetism, which could enable the design of antennas small enough to be integrated into an electronic chip. These ultra-small antennas - the so-called 'last frontier' of semiconductor design - would be a massive leap forward for wireless communications.
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New research from Sweden's Karolinska Institutet in collaboration with Oxford University, UK, shows that close relatives of men convicted of sexual offences commit similar offences themselves more frequently than comparison subjects. This is due to genetic factors rather than shared family environment. The study includes all men convicted of sex crime in Sweden during 37 years.
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The expansion of food banks across the United Kingdom is associated with cuts in spending on local services, welfare benefits and higher unemployment rates, conclude researchers in The BMJ this week.
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