Defeating Resistant Lung Cancer Using CRISPR

    New groundbreaking research from ChristianaCare's Gene Editing Institute has revealed that CRISPR gene editing can disable the NRF2 gene in lung cancer cells (a key culprit in chemotherapy resistance. When NRF2 is overactive, tumors become a lot more resilient to standard drugs, but by knocking it out using CRISPR/Cas9, researchers were able to restore the cancer cells' sensitivity to chemotherapy and slow tumor growth.

    One of the most promising areas of this work is how precisely the team targeted the resistance mechanism. They were able to lock in on a tumor-specific mutation called R34G and NRF2 while using lipid-nanoparticles (LNPs) to deliver CRISPR safely into tumors in animal models. Amazingly, editing only 20% to 40% of the tumor cells was enough to boost the effectiveness of chemotherapy, a promising insight given that editing each individual cancer cell is not realistic in real-world treatment.

    Thus research could alter the way individuals think about cancer treatment, Rather than creating entirely new therapies, scientists are using gene editing to make existing chemotherapy more effective. Because NRF2 is implicated in resistance across a variety of solid tumors (not only lung cancer), this approach has the potential to benefit several patients. It is still early, but the precision, the targeted delivery, and the dramatic resensitization of tumors all look toward a powerful new weapon in the fight against drug-resistant cancer.

MRI: The new biopsy in detecting cancer cells

According to a recent study done at John Hopkins University, researchers propose a possible new method to finding out whether cells are cancerous without undergoing a biopsy. The new method they tested in their study was the use of a MRI technique in test tube grown cells and mice. The positive side of using a MRI is that unlike CT scans or mammograms it not only detects tumors, but it also can detect sugar molecules shed by cancer cells, therefore indicating which cells are cancerous.

Jeff Bulte, a professor of radiological sciences at John Hopkins, based his research on prior studies which found glucose to be detected by a MRI technique based on its water interactions without dyes. According to Xiaolei Song, the lead author in this study, this new MRI technique helps us see the whole tumor cell, whereas with the dyes we could only see part of it. The researchers propose more research needs to be conducted before testing to see if this new technique could work in humans as well. I think this could be a huge step in cancer research if the continuing studies show to be effective. I am looking forward to see where this new research takes us. 

Counter to "Master" Cancer Gene Found

Mong-Hong Lee has found that the CSN6 subunit is related to Myc.  The CSN6 is a protein that is similar to protein complexes in bean sprouts, which allow the bean sprouts to grow in the dark. In humans it makes Myc, which is linked to tumor growth, more active.  Myc is what is known as proto-oncogene (or master cancer gene) which promotes tumor growth, as well as spurs the growth in various cancers. What happens is the CSN6 is an oncogene (a gene that can transform a cell into a tumor cell) that is overexpressed, speeding up tumor growth in many types of cancer.   

This discovery will allow for the development of new treatments and ways to kill tumors.  The reason is mostly due to Myc has always been challenging to deal with due to its unique protein structure.  Having another protein connected to Myc will allow us to find a new ways to combat it.  Lee’s team has found that inhibiting CSN6 quickly destabilizes Myc, which is a vast improvement form years of studying to no avail.

The fact we are constantly advancing and improving our treatment of cancer makes me feel hopeful.  I have actually lost my father to cancer and have always donated and raised awareness.  It fills me with joy to see progress and know we are getting closer and closer to beating cancer.  The fact we are looking and finding genes, means not only can we beat cancer, but other diseases as well.

Article: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/285795.php 

Related Article: http://www.celldiv.com/content/8/1/14

Fruit Flies Aid Efforts to Develop Personalized Cancer Treatments

              People have always been wondering why type 2 diabetes leads to cancer cells in humans. People with diabetes should suffer fewer tumors, not more of them. So new research on fruit flies, was published in 2013, in the scientific journal Cell, may have finally cracked the long-standing mystery. Scientist who study insects are now turning toward the study of fruit flies. This is because to study tumor cells it is better to do it in a fruit fly then in a petri dish. Fruit flies offer lots of advantages as lab animals. They are tiny, inexpensive to feed, house, and have very short life spans which helps with studying cell samples. Fruit flies and people have similar genes which is why they are good specimens. Thanks to the genomics revolution of the past decade, clinicians can now take a genetic snapshot of a person’s malignant tumor and find out which genes are acting differently than usual. Thanks to modern technology now we can order fruit flies to match a certain genetic code. This will help identify different types of cancer cells.
              It gives me a sense of how biologists are starting to weave together insights from genetics, developmental biology and physiology to create a better picture of what really happens inside a fruit fly or a person. This well then lead to finding treatments for cancer and how to stop them from forming and spreading throughout the body.