Sun, Mar 13, 2022 page3

• Potential lung cancer treatment found

  GENE EDITING: The treatment might be better than the most commonly used methods, which are often impeded by cancer cells’ acquired drug resistance, the researchers said

  • By Wu Liang-yi and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer and CNA
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  A research team has developed a method to suppress the progression of non-small-cell lung cancer, potentially paving the way for a viable treatment of the disease, it said on Friday.

  The team, which includes researchers from Taipei Veterans General Hospital and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, gene edited a type of oncogenic ribonucleic acid (RNA) known as C190.

  C190 plays a key role in causing non-small-cell carcinoma, which is the cause of 85 percent of lung cancer cases.

  

  Members of a team of researchers seeking a treatment for lung cancer, including Chiou Shih-hwa, second left, and Afeez Adekunle Ishola, third left, attend a news conference in Taipei on Friday.

  Photo: CNA

  By combining RNA editing and gene therapy, the researchers dissected the function of C190 and tested its potential as a therapeutic, reducing proliferation and migration of the cancer-causing cells and suppressing tumor growth, the team said.

  While C190 is relatively stable and unlikely to mutate, it might become a useful biomarker for the development of treatments of lung cancer caused by non-small-cell carcinoma, said Chiou Shih-hwa (邱士華), director of the hospital’s research center.

  Chiou said that C190’s attributes could contribute to better treatments than the most commonly used method, which targets epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a protein.

  

  Lin Chia-hung, a doctor at Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, speaks with a patient in an undated photograph.

  Photo courtesy of Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital

  Abnormal activation of EGFR is one of the most important driving forces for the malignancy of cancers, said the team, which published its findings in the American Association for Cancer Research journal in January.

  While there have been three generations of EGFR-related medicines developed for clinical treatment of non-small-cell cancer, innate or acquired drug resistance within 12 months of the drug being administered is a roadblock created by EGFR’s high mutability, the team said.

  One of the most prevalent forms of non-small-cell cancer is lung adenocarcinoma, which accounts for a majority of such patients in Taiwan.

  In a separate study, researchers showed that the risk of stroke and heart attack for people with type-1 diabetes is increased 2.61 times if one or more of their close relatives have type-2 diabetes.

  The diabetes study, which was conducted by researchers and doctors at Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, was published in the JAMA Network Open online medical journal in December last year.

  The Chang Gung researchers found that for a person with type-1 diabetes who has a close relative with type-2 diabetes, the risk of renal disorder is increased 1.44 times, retinal disorder is 1.28 times more likely and neurological disorders are 1.24 times as common.

  Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital said in a news release that type-2 diabetes is not well understood, as it is much less prevalent than type-1, with just 1 percent of the 2 million diabetic Taiwanese having the type-2 condition.

  Lead author Lin Chia-hung (林嘉鴻), a physician at the hospital’s department of endocrinology and metabolism, said that their research was the first-ever large-sample study into the implications of family health history for people with type-2 diabetes in Taiwan.

  The two forms of diabetes are caused by insufficient production of insulin in the pancreas (type-1) and insulin resistance at the cellular level (type-2), Lin said.

  Lin said that he began investigating possible relationships between risk factors after previous studies pointed to a correlation between being related to a person with diabetes, and increased risk of hyperinsulinemia, which is linked to type-2 diabetes, and clogged arteries.

  The team showed that there was a correlation after working with the hospital’s analytics center to produce a model from the health histories of more than 10,000 people aged 20 or older who were diagnosed with diabetes, he said.

  The findings can help guide doctors to assess the health risks of people with either form of diabetes, and facilitate preventive measures and timely treatment, he said.
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