PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Loss of tiny liver molecule might lead to liver cancer

2012-07-24
(Press-News.org) Liver cancer is the third leading cancer killer worldwide and new treatments are urgently needed. This study shows that loss of a regulatory molecule called microRNA-122 leads to liver cancer. The findings suggest that developing a drug that restores microRNA-122 levels might offer a new way to treat this deadly disease.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study shows that loss of a small RNA molecule in liver cells might cause liver cancer and that restoring the molecule might slow tumor growth and offer a new way to treat the disease.

The animal study was led by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James).

The scientists examined what happens when liver cells lack a molecule called microRNA-122 (miR-122). They found that when the molecule is missing, the liver develops fat deposits, inflammation and tumors that resemble hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common form of liver cancer.

When the researchers artificially restored miR-122 to nearly normal levels by delivering the miR-122 gene into liver cells, it dramatically reduced the size and number of tumors, with tumors making up 8 percent on average of liver surface area in treated animals versus 40 percent in control animals.

The study is published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

"These findings reveal that miR-122 has a critical tumor-suppressor role in the healthy liver, and they highlight the possible therapeutic value of miR-122 replacement for some patients with liver cancer," says study leader Dr. Kalpana Ghoshal, associate professor of pathology and a member of the OSUCCC – James Experimental Therapeutics Program.

More than 28,700 new cases of HCC are expected in the United States in 2012, and 20,550 Americans are expected to die of the malignancy. Major risk factors for HCC include hepatitis B and C virus infection and liver damage due to alcohol use. HCC is curable if caught early, but most cases are diagnosed at a late, incurable stage.

MiR-122 is found mainly in liver cells – it is the most abundant microRNA in those cells – and it plays a major role in regulating cholesterol in the body. This microRNA is lost in some people with HCC, however, resulting in a poor prognosis.

For this study, Ghoshal and her colleagues developed a strain of mice that lacks miR-122 and develops HCC through the progression of events that begins with fatty liver deposits followed by inflammation and liver cancer.

The researchers then used a second strain of mice that spontaneously develops liver cancer due to overexpression of a cancer-causing gene called MYC (pronounced "mick"). The researchers delivered miR-122 into the animals' livers during tumor development. Three weeks later, those treated with the molecule had smaller and fewer tumors.

"The model we developed for these studies will not only facilitate our understanding of liver biology, but it will also be good for testing therapeutic efficacy of newly developed drugs against liver disease, including HCC," Ghoshal says.

Ghoshal also notes that research by others has shown that hepatitis C virus requires miR-122 for replication. "Because our findings demonstrate what happens when miR-122 is lost in liver cells, they might help improve the safety of new drugs that treat hepatitis C virus infection by blocking miR-122," she says.

INFORMATION:

Funding from the NIH/National Cancer Institute (grants CA086978, CA120185 and CA134292), NIH/ National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (grant DK088076), a Pelotonia idea grant, a Pelotonia predoctoral fellowship, and the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas supported this research.

Other researchers involved in this study were Shu-hao Hsu, Bo Wang, Jianhua Yu, Stefan Costinean, Huban Kutay, Lianbo Yu, Shoumei Bai, Krista La Perle, Hsiaoyin Mao, Min Wei, Michael A. Caligiuri and Samson T. Jacob of The Ohio State University; Janaiah Kota, K. Reed Clark and Jerry R. Mendell of Nationwide Children's Hospital; Raghu R. Chivukula of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; and Joshua T. Mendell of UT Southwestern Medical Center.

The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute strives to create a cancer-free world by integrating scientific research with excellence in education and patient-centered care, a strategy that leads to better methods of prevention, detection and treatment. Ohio State is one of only 41 National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers and one of only seven centers funded by the NCI to conduct both phase I and phase II clinical trials. The NCI recently rated Ohio State's cancer program as "exceptional," the highest rating given by NCI survey teams. As the cancer program's 210-bed adult patient-care component, The James is a "Top Hospital" as named by the Leapfrog Group and one of the top 20 cancer hospitals in the nation as ranked by U.S.News & World Report.

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

First results of community health campaign in Uganda for HIV and other diseases

2012-07-24
A clinical study in a remote region of southwest Uganda has demonstrated the feasibility of using a health campaign to rapidly test a community for HIV and simultaneously offer prevention and diagnosis for a variety of other diseases in rural and resource-poor settings of sub-Saharan Africa. At the XIX International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C., the first results of this study, called the "Sustainable East Africa Research in Community Health (SEARCH) Collaboration," will be described by doctors at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco ...

UCSF/SFGH researchers call for change in new FDA recommendation on HIV and TB drug doses

2012-07-24
In January, 2012, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued new guidelines on dosing of an HIV medication used to treat people infected with both HIV and tuberculosis (TB) because of a potential interaction between two of the main drugs used to treat each disease. The drug rifampin, used for treating TB, can lower levels of the HIV medicine efavirenz, so the FDA recommended that patients who weigh more than 50 kg (110 pounds) and who are taking both medications should get 30 percent larger doses of efavirenz (an increase from 600 mg to 800 mg). Now, a new ...

Is YouTube a prescription for vertigo?

2012-07-24
MINNEAPOLIS – Watching videos on YouTube may be a new way to show the treatment for a common cause of vertigo, which often goes untreated by physicians, according to a study published in the July 24, 2012, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is an inner ear disorder that is a common cause of dizziness. "This type of vertigo can be treated easily and quickly with a simple maneuver called the Epley maneuver, but too often the maneuver isn't used, and people are told to 'wait ...

JCI early table of contents for July 23, 2012

2012-07-24
EDITOR'S PICK MiR-122 micromanages liver function MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenously encoded RNAs that regulate the stability or translation of mRNA molecules, and emerging research suggests that they have diverse roles in normal physiology and disease. In this issue, two groups investigated the role of the predominant liver miRNA, miR-122. Ann-Ping Tsou and colleagues from National Yang-Ming University in Taiwan, and a team led by Kalpana Ghoshal, from Ohio State University generated mouse models of MiR-122 loss of function, and determined that the molecule was critically ...

MiR-122 micromanages liver function

2012-07-24
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenously encoded RNAs that regulate the stability or translation of mRNA molecules, and emerging research suggests that they have diverse roles in normal physiology and disease. In this issue, two groups investigated the role of the predominant liver miRNA, miR-122. Ann-Ping Tsou and colleagues from National Yang-Ming University in Taiwan, and a team led by Kalpana Ghoshal, from Ohio State University generated mouse models of MiR-122 loss of function, and determined that the molecule was critically involved in modulating fat and cholesterol metabolism, ...

Polar bear evolution tracked climate change, new DNA study suggests

2012-07-24
An analysis of newly sequenced polar bear genomes is providing important clues about the species' evolution, suggesting that climate change and genetic exchange with brown bears helped create the polar bear as we know it today. The international study, led by the Penn State University and the University at Buffalo, found evidence that the size of the polar bear population fluctuated with key climatic events over the past million years, growing during periods of cooling and shrinking in warmer times. The research also suggests that while polar bears evolved into a distinct ...

Why do anti-hunger and anti-obesity initiatives always fall short?

2012-07-24
With widespread hunger continuing to haunt developing nations, and obesity fast becoming a global epidemic, any number of efforts on the parts of governments, scientists, non-profit organizations and the business world have taken aim at these twin nutrition-related crises. But all of these efforts have failed to make a large dent in the problems, and now an unusual international collaboration of researchers is explaining why. Publishing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers argue that while hunger and obesity are caused by a perfect storm ...

First study of heart 'maps' for kids could help correct rapid rhythms

2012-07-24
The first study of a procedure to make three-dimensional "maps" of electrical signals in children's hearts could help cardiologists correct rapid heart rhythms in young patients, according to new research presented at the American Heart Association's Basic Cardiovascular Sciences 2012 Scientific Sessions. Children with the condition atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia, or AVNRT, suffer from disruptions in the heart's electrical system that cause sudden rapid heart rates. Patients have been successfully treated with cardiac ablation , in which the abnormal tissue ...

Aging heart cells rejuvenated by modified stem cells

2012-07-24
Damaged and aged heart tissue of older heart failure patients was rejuvenated by stem cells modified by scientists, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Basic Cardiovascular Sciences 2012 Scientific Sessions. The study is simultaneously published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The research could one day lead to new treatments for heart failure patients, researchers said. "Since patients with heart failure are normally elderly, their cardiac stem cells aren't very healthy," said Sadia Mohsin, Ph.D., one of the ...

Infants can use language to learn about people's intentions, NYU, McGill researchers find

2012-07-24
Infants are able to detect how speech communicates unobservable intentions, researchers at New York University and McGill University have found in a study that sheds new light on how early in life we can rely on language to acquire knowledge about matters that go beyond first-hand experiences. Their findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). "Much of what we know about the world does not come from our own experiences, so we have to obtain this information indirectly—from books, the news media, and conversation," explained Athena Vouloumanos, ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Researchers improve chemical reaction that underpins products from foods to fuels

Texas Tech to develop semiconductor power devices through $6 million grant

Novel genomic screening tool enables precision reverse-engineering of genetic programming in cells

Hot Schrödinger cat states created

How cells repair their power plants

Oxygen is running low in inland waters—and humans are to blame

ACP’s Best Practice Advice addresses use of cannabis, cannabinoids for chronic noncancer pain

Beyond photorespiration: A systematic approach to unlocking enhanced plant productivity

How a small number of mutations can fuel outbreaks of western equine encephalitis virus

Exposure to wildfire smoke linked with worsening mental health conditions

Research uncovers hidden spread of one of the most common hospital-associated infections

Many older adults send their doctors portal messages, but who pays?

Fine particulate matter from 2020 California wildfires and mental health–related emergency department visits

Gender inequity in institutional leadership roles in US academic medical centers

Pancreatic cells ‘remember’ epigenetic precancerous marks without genetic sequence mutations

Rare combination of ovarian tumors found in one patient

AI-driven clinical recommendations may aid physician decision making to improve quality of care

Artificial intelligence has potential to aid physician decisions during virtual urgent care

ACP and Annals of Internal Medicine present breaking scientific news at ACP’s Internal Medicine Meeting 2025

New study reveals polymers with flawed fillers boost heat transfer in plastics

Signs identified that precede sudden arrhythmic death syndrome in young people

Discovery of bacteria's defence against viruses becomes a piece of the puzzle against resistance

Pre-eclampsia is associated with earlier onset and higher incidence of cardiovascular risk factors

Warwick astronomers discover doomed pair of spiralling stars on our cosmic doorstep

Soil conditions significantly increase rainfall in world’s megastorm hotspots

NK cells complexed with bispecific antibody yield high response rates in patients with lymphoma

Planetary health diet and mediterranean diet associated with similar survival and sustainability benefits

Singapore launches national standard to validate antimicrobial disinfectant products

Molecular stool test could improve detection of tuberculosis in adults with HIV

Suspected fibrocartilaginous embolus in Asian small-clawed otter (Aonyx cinereus)

[Press-News.org] Loss of tiny liver molecule might lead to liver cancer