The National Health Research Institutes (NHRI) yesterday announced a potential breakthrough in the treatment of ovarian cancer — the discovery of a steroid medication that may help inhibit metastasis of the cancer and/or its recurrence.
The discovery was made during a three year study conducted by researchers from NHRI’s Institute of Molecular and Genomic Medicine and two gynecologists at Taipei Veterans General Hospital.
“After subjecting the metastasized ovarian cancer cell line [SKOV-I6iv] and its parental line [SKOV-3] to miRNA array analysis, we found that the expression of microRNA-708 was significantly lower in SKOV-I6iv cells than in SKOV-3 cells,” institute director Wang Lu-hai (王陸海) told a news conference in Taipei.
Wang also serves as the corresponding author for the research.
In analyzing ovarian tumor specimens obtained from the hospital, the researchers discovered noticeably lower miR-708 expression in patients whose cancer cells had reached an advanced stage or spread than in those whose ovarian tissues were normal or whose cancer was still in the early stages, Wang said.
Further analysis showed that even among end-stage patients, those with high microRNA-708 had a higher survival rate than those with low microRNA-708 expression, Wang said.
“A subsequent mouse experiment discovered that microRNA-708 can help inhibit cancer metastasis and those injected with dexamethasone — a synthetic glucocorticoid compound with anti-inflammatory activities — for a month saw microRNA-708 expression increase nearly seven-fold,” he said.
The research team then identified microRNA-708’s downstream regulator in ovarian cancer metastasis as Rap1B protein, the suppression of which plays an important role in curbing ovarian cancer cell migration/invasion and metastasis, Wang said.
The study indicates that the use of glucocorticoids, such as dexamethasone, could “inhibit ovarian cancer metastasis,” he said.
The team’s next step is to determine when and how many doses of glucocorticoid need to be administered to achieve the highest efficacy, Wang said.
The research is expected to enter human clinical trial stage in two years, he said.
The study, “Glucocorticoids mediate induction of microRNA-708to suppress ovarian cancer metastasis through targeting Rap1B,” was published in the online journal Nature Communications on Jan. 8.
Gynecologist Chao Kuan-chong (趙灌中) said while the incidence rate of ovarian cancer in Taiwan is relatively low at 10.8 cases per 100,000 population, the five-year survival rate for end-stage sufferers is less than 50 percent even with treatment.
“That is partly because of the cancer’s asymptomatic nature and the currently insufficient screening methods to catch the disease at an early stage,” Chao said.
Chao said nearly 70 percent of ovarian cancer patients were diagnosed at a late stage and most of them suffered from drug resistance or recurrence within three years after a combined treatment of surgery and chemotherapy.
“It will be a tremendous ovarian cancer drug breakthrough If glucocorticoid proves to be effective in curbing cancer cell migration,” Chao said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS