The cells in our body regularly die and are replaced by new ones. The mechanism of "planned" cell death is called apoptosis and is a completely normal physiological process. But what is characteristic of normal cells is absent in cancer cells. They simply lost this function. But what if you could make tumor cells "remember" this mechanism? US researchers say it's possible. They even confirmed this in a series of experiments.
Micro-RNA can be used to send cancer cells "a message of self-destruction that they cannot ignore," according to new research. We wrote that earlier this year, researchers at Northwestern University (located in the suburb of Chicago, in the city of Evanston) described a mechanism by which every cell in the body can be programmed to destroy. Now the same research team has reported that they have finally succeeded in cracking the "code" needed to run this sequence and even confirming this data through experiments.
As the authors of the work convey in their new study, ribonucleic acid (RNA) and specific micro-RNA send indications of cell death. And the code itself consists of six nucleotides of small interfering RNA (siRNA). The ingestion of only six of these nucleotides causes irreversible changes in the cell, similar to those that occur when exposed to chemotherapy drugs. During laboratory tests on tumor cells, it turned out that the code simultaneously destroys several genes that the cells need to survive, thus the cancer is unable to develop resistance. In addition, this approach practically does not affect healthy tissues, which means that the number of complications will be minimal.
“Now that we know the murder code for sure, we can start the mechanism without resorting to chemotherapy. We can use these micro-RNAs directly, inject them into cells, and trigger a switch that causes tumors to die. - said the lead author of the work, Professor Markus Peter.
Vladimir Kuznetsov
