New path opened for cancer cell metastasis suppression and recurrence treatment
The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning announced that a Korea research team has “newly discovered the cause of the cancer metastasis and recurrence.”
The project was carried out by a team led by Doctor Hong-Duck Um(Korea Institute of Radiological & Medical Sciences) with support from the Ministry’s radiation technology development project, and the results were pre-published in the April 3 issue of Cancer Research online, the flagship journal of American Association of Cancer Research.
Title: The p53/p21 Complex Regulates Cancer Cell Invasion and Apoptosis by Targeting Bcl-2 Family Proteins Metastatic Cancer and recurrent cancer, so-called “the second cancer,” have been known to hard to overcome because of difficulties in prediction and lack of understanding on their cause as well as limited and ineffective treatment.
The research team discovered for the first time that the functional failure of p53/p21 complex increases the possibility of cancer metastasis and recurrence. It is expected that the discovery will enable the prediction of cancer metastasis and recurrence and also the development of new treatment methods.
The study’s achievement is especially meaningful for opening up the possibility of new treatment methods for cancer by finding how cancer is spread and recur.
Doctor Hong-Duck Um stated that “the possibility of cancer metastasis and recurrence would be different for a patient who has functional p53/p21 complex and who do not, and for the latter, anticancer treatment to overcome p53/p21 complex deficiency is highly recommended,” adding that further studies on such treatment are urgently needed.
Source: Ministry of Science and ICT (http://english.msit.go.kr/english/main/main.do)
