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Cellular hairs, called eyelashes, play a central role in the development of black skin cancer. If their formation in benign pigment cells is suppressed, the cells degenerate and develop aggressive melanoma, as shown by researchers from Zurich
(nda)
Black skin cancer is one of the most aggressive. Types of tumors in humans. Despite the advances in therapy, there are still many patients with melanoma who can not be cured or whose illness bursts after a while. In order to develop new therapeutic approaches, research is devoted to the question of what changes in a benign cell have led to the development of a malignant tumor.
A research team led by Lukas Sommer, professor at the Anatomical Institute of the University of Zurich. in that, apart from genetic causes such as mutations in genetic material, epigenetic factors are also responsible for the development and spread of melanoma. Epigenetic factors do not directly influence the gene sequence, but regulate how certain genes are read efficiently in cells
Zurich researchers focus on the EZH2 protein, which is very common in melanoma, but not occurs in benign cells, and is involved in the formation of melanoma. To discover how the epigenetic factor contributes to the aggressiveness of melanoma, the scientists examined all the genes controlled by EZH2.
"We were very surprised to find many genes involved in eyelash formation." , Head of Studies Sommer is quoted in a communication from the University of Zurich. Eyelashes are thin-cell processes that transmit signals from the environment to the cell as antennas. Almost all cells of the human body have such sensory hairs
Carcinogenic diseases
Apparently, the cocel genes of EZH2 are deleted, so that malignant melanoma cells have much less of these sensory hairs than benign pigment cells skin. Using human melanoma cells and mouse models, researchers have shown that ciliary loss in pigment cells activates carcinogenic signaling pathways, ultimately leading to the development of aggressive metastatic melanoma. The researchers report their findings in the journal Cancer Cell.
The drugs that block EZH2 should therefore be a promising strategy for the treatment of melanoma. However, the fact that cells lose their eyelashes is a hallmark of many cancers. "The epigenetic control of eyelash formation, which we have discovered in melanoma, may also be useful for the development of other types of cancer, such as breast and brain tumors," says Sommer, 1969. The work research is the result of a collaboration between doctors and biologists. of the research axis "Translational Cancer Research". The team of the Swiss League Against Cancer and the Swiss National Science Foundation has received financial support.
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