A National Health Research Institutes (NHRI) research team has discovered a key mechanism that affects lung cancer metastasis, which could become a potential biomarker, the institutes said yesterday.
Cancer has been the leading cause of death in Taiwan for 37 years, with lung cancer the leading cause of cancer deaths. A significant majority of such deaths are associated with tumor metastasis.
A team led by NHRI Immunology Research Center director Tan Tse-hua (譚澤華) and assistant research fellow Chuang Huai-chia (莊懷佳) has spent years exploring the mechanism between cancer metastasis and MAP4K3 (also known as GLK), a protein encoded by the MAP4K3 gene.
Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
The team’s previous studies showed that up to 76 percent of non-small cell lung cancer patients have overexpression of GLK in their bodies, and that overexpression of GLK in human lung cancer is associated with poor prognosis and recurrence, Chuang said.
However, the role of GLK in cancer recurrence was unclear, she said.
Using GLK transgenic mice that were bred with genetically modified lung cancer mice allowed the team to study the effect of GLK on the progression of the disease, and they found that GLK induced lung cancer to metastasize in lymph nodes, the brain and liver, she said.
Transgenic GLK promotes tumor metastasis and cell migration through the scaffold protein IQ motif–containing GTPase-activating protein 1 (IQGAP1), by binding to, phosphorylating and activating IQGAP1, the team found.
Human tissues displayed increased phospho-IQGAP1, which correlated with poor survival, so if the overexpression of GLK is inhibited, lung cancer recurrence and tumor metastasis might be controlled, she added.
Tan said that GLK plays a crucial role in promoting cell migration and cancer metastasis by directly binding to and phosphorylating IQGAP1, so their findings suggest that the GLK–IQGAP1 complex is a potential therapeutic target for cancer recurrence.
GLK knockout (inactivated) mice have a life span about 1.5 times that of average mice, which suggests that GLK inhabitation might also have anti-aging effects, he said.
The study was published as the cover story in last month’s issue of Cancer Research and the team is applying for a patent for the findings of the GLK–IQGAP1 complex study, the NHRI said.
WHEELING AND DEALING? Hou You-yi, Ko Wen-je, Eric Chu and Ma Ying-jeou are under investigation for allegedly offering bribes for the other side to drop out of the race Taipei prosecutors have started an investigation into allegations that four top politicians involved in attempts to form a “blue-white” presidential ticket have contravened election regulations. Listed as defendants are Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the KMT and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲). The case stemmed from judicial complaints filed last month with the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office alleging that the KMT (blue) and the TPP (white) had engaged in bribery by offering money or other enticements
ELIGIBLE FOR JANUARY: All presidential candidates and their running mates meet the requirements to run for office, and none hold dual citizenship, the CEC said Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator and vice presidential candidate Cynthia Wu (吳欣盈) is working with the Central Election Commission (CEC) to resolve issues with her financial disclosure statement, a spokesman for the candidate said yesterday, after the commission published the statements of all three presidential candidates and their running mates, while confirming their eligibility to run in the Jan. 13 election. Wu’s office spokesman, Chen Yu-cheng (陳宥丞), said the candidate encountered unforeseen difficulties disclosing her husband’s finances due to being suddenly thrust into the campaign. She is also the first vice presidential nominee to have a foreign spouse, complicating the reporting of
GOOD NEWS: Although open civic spaces are shrinking in Asia-Pacific countries and territories, Taiwan’s openness is a positive sign, an expert said Taiwan remains the only country in Asia with an “open” civic space for the fifth consecutive year, the Civicus Monitor said in a report released yesterday. The People Power Under Attack 2023 report named Taiwan as one of only 37 open countries or territories out of 198 globally, and the only one in Asia. Compiled by Civicus — a global alliance of civil society organizations dedicated to bolstering civil action — the ranking compiled annually since 2017 measures the state of freedom of association, peaceful assembly and expression around the world. Researchers assign each country or territory one of five rankings describing the
NOT JUST CHIPS: Although semiconductor processes are on the list, it also includes military technology and post-quantum cryptography to combat emerging cyberthreats The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) yesterday released a list of 22 technologies it considers crucial to the nation’s security and competitiveness, including the 14-nanometer semiconductor process and advanced chip packaging. For the first time, the council made a list of core technologies with an aim of preventing secret information about those technologies being leaked to foreign countries, which could put the nation’s security and the competitiveness of local industries at risk. For years, local semiconductor companies have faced challenges from talent poaching and theft of corporate secrets by Chinese competitors, who are seeking to rapidly advance their technology capabilities through
RSS