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Researchers discover miR-520 blocks cancer-promoting signaling pathway

June 30, 2017

Subsequently, the DKFZ researchers studied the question of whether the findings obtained in cancer cells in the culture dish are also involved in breast cancer. Studying tumor tissue samples of 76 patients, the team discovered that tumors which have already spread to the lymph nodes produce less miR-520 than those which have not yet spread. However, this connection was only found in tumors that do not produce receptors for the female sexual hormone, estrogen (ER-negative tumors).

"Our findings clearly demonstrate that miR-520 is a genuine cancer brake that suppresses the malignant behavior of tumor cells in two different ways at once," said Stefan Wiemann, commenting on the findings reported in his now published work. "This cancer brake appears to fail in many ER-negative breast tumors - and also in cells of other types of cancer, as colleagues have now demonstrated." ER-negative breast cancer is particularly difficult to treat in many cases. Developing a microRNA therapy that blocks several cancer-promoting signaling pathways at once may therefore be an interesting option.

Source: Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres