|
DISCOVERY MAY HELP LEAD TO NEW TREATMENTS FOR MOST DEADLY FORM OF SKIN CANCER
01 September 2004 - Boston University
| Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine have discovered that small DNA fragments or oligonucleotides that resemble the telomere (chromosome end), also called T-oligos, can cause human melanoma cells to undergo extensive apoptosis (cell death), while surviving melanoma cells become more differentiated and therefore less aggressive. |
The results, which appear in the September 2004 FASEB Journal, suggest a new treatment for melanoma, a disease responsible for more than 50,000 new skin cancer cases and more than 7,500 deaths per year in the United States. Led by Barbara Gilchrest, MD, chairman and professor of dermatology at BUSM, researchers studied the effects of T-oligos on aggressive human MM-AN melanoma cells on mice with weakened immune systems. They found brief exposure of the melanoma cells to T-oligos prior to injection into the mice reduced eventual tumor volume and number of metastases by 85 – 95 percent. In mice with previously established tumors in the flank and abdominal cavity, injection of T-oligos inhibited melanoma growth by 85-90 percent in both sites, without detectable toxicity for normal tissue. Melanoma cells that survived the T-oligo treatment were also less aggressive and highly differentiated compared to the same cells in control mice. There was no apparent toxicity of the treatment for normal tissues. “Melanoma is a dread disease, resistant to all treatment modalities now available once it has spread beyond the skin,” said Gilchrest. “Our results are encouraging and we are very hopeful this finding will provide a novel means of treating melanoma.” Research shows normal cells that undergo DNA damage have a protective mechanism that will cause severely damaged cells to self-destruct. In malignant cells, such as melanoma, the protective mechanism appears to be disabled. Gilchrest and her colleagues have previously found that T-oligos provided to cells in culture or injected into tissue can reconstitute or substitute for the mechanism causing malignant cells to destroy themselves. The same group of investigators also showed a T-oligo, working through the same pathways, can be used to prevent skin cancer development following UV exposure in a hairless mouse model. By topically applying T-oligo to UV exposed mice intermittently over several months, researchers reduced the proportion of mice developing tumors more than six-fold and greatly delayed tumor onset, compared to control animals. Melanoma incidence has increased more than 20-fold over the past century, likely due to increased sun exposure, particularly intermittent intense sun exposure. It is estimated that one in 70 Americans born today will develop melanoma in their lifetime.
http://www.bu.edu/
About: Boston University
Boston University has a well-deserved reputation for excellence in research in a wide range of disciplines and a demonstrated commitment to fostering innovative interdisciplinary research. The Office of the Associate Provost for Research and Graduate Education supports the University in facilitating research at the both the student and faculty levels.Our mission is to enhance and encourage research at Boston University and to provide a climate conducive to maintaining the University at the cutting edge of research and scholarly activities. We work with the Boston University community to plan and coordinate interdisciplinary research and represent the University in research matters related to Inter-University consortia. To encourage new, innovative, and cross-disciplinary efforts, this office administers the Special Program for Research Initiation Grants (SPRInG). We showcase graduate research at Science & Technology Day. This annual event features nearly 200 research posters by graduate students from both the Medical and Charles River Campuses working in a wide range of disciplines. Our annual research magazine, Research at Boston University, informs a wide audience about a selection of our significant research findings and ongoing studies at Boston University. We also maintain a strong presence on the web through this site and through the Science Coalition’s website, which brings our research successes to the attention of Congress and other policy makers in the federal government. To assist Boston University researchers, this office oversees the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program and coordinates with the Office of Sponsored Programs on the Charles River Campus , the research administration on the Medical Campus, the Office of Research Compliance, and the various graduate programs. For the development of commercially viable ideas, we administer the Provost's Innovation Fund and work closely with the Office of Technology Transfer. We also coordinate proposals where there are institutional limits to the number of proposals that may be submitted, cost sharing requirements, significant laboratory renovations, or other special circumstances. This office assists departments and centers to achieve a diverse faculty and graduate student body through our membership and activities with the Northeast Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate and through our affiliation with the Clare Boothe Luce program of the Henry Luce Foundation. |
More News:
• For September 2004
• From Boston University
• For University
|
