Researchers from the University of Tokyo have developed a new approach to cancer treatment, involving artificial strands of DNA that react with specific microRNA to provide a natural immune response.
MicroRNA are over-produced in cancer cells, and lab tests have found their new technique works against malignant melanoma cells. Researchers used cells from mice, alongside human samples from breast and cervical cancer-derived cells in the study, the Express reports.
Drugs based on DNA and RNA are able to control the biological functions of cells, which means the future of cancer treatment is set to be transformed. It has been a challenge for scientists to get to this point, as it is tricky to make nucleic acids distinguish between cancer cells and healthy ones.
This type of treatment could in turn have a negative impact on a patient’s immune system. Alongside cancer, other illnesses caused by genetic diseases and viruses are expected to be treated by this method.
Paper author Professor Akimitsu Okamoto of the University of Tokyo said: “We thought that if we can create new drugs that work by a different mechanism of action from that of conventional drugs, they may be effective against cancers that have been untreatable up to now.”
Professor Okamoto and his colleagues synthesised two hairpin-shaped, cancer-killing pieces of DNA, which they called “oHPs”. The oHPs work by triggering a response from the immune system, and only target specific cancer cells.
When a patient suffers from cancer, it is due to the disease causing cells to overexpress - where they make too many copies of certain DNA and RNA molecules. This causes them to function improperly. Researchers injected the artificial DNA strands into the target cells, where they connected to one overexpressed microRNA molecule, miR-21 — then unravelling.
The DNA strands then joined together to form longer chains of DNA. This is what triggers the immune system to recognise the overexpressed miR-21 molecules as dangerous. The immune response will then kill the cancer cells, while also preventing further growth of cancerous tissue.
Professor Okamoto said: “The results of this study are good news for doctors, drug discovery researchers and cancer patients, as we believe it will give them new options for drug development and medication policies. Next, we will aim for drug discovery based on the results of this research, and examine in detail the drug efficacy, toxicity and potential administration methods.”
The treatment still has various steps to go through before it can be made widely available. The full findings of the study were published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society .
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