A Protein that Cures Melanoma
Melanoma is a malignant tumor that originates in the cells that make melanin. Learned from Peking University tumor hospital and the melanoma expert committee of clinical oncology cooperative professional committee of Chinese anti-cancer association, The detection rate of melanoma in China has increased, with about 20,000 new cases every year. Melanoma has gradually become one of the most harmful cancers in China. Recently, a study was published in the international journal Cell Reports, Scientists from lund university in Sweden have identified a protein that regulates the expression of a gene linked to the spread of malignant melanoma.
In the past 10 years, researchers have developed a variety of new therapies to enhance the body's immune system to attack specific cancer cells, to treat metastatic cancer, and the introduction of these treatments due to a better understanding of the pathogenesis of melanoma, however the current researchers didn't know how cancer cells to spread to other parts of the body. Researcher Dr Cristian Bellodi said that we found that a particular protein called DDX3X regulates the expression of a key gene called MITF, which is essential for the production of pigment cells in the skin; Other researchers have previously found that MITF is a melanoma-specific oncogene that induces tumors, While researchers know the general function of the protein DDX3X, they don't know the link to the MITF gene, so they need to dig deeper to understand the link. DDX3X does not affect whether the body develops malignant melanoma, but it plays a key role in the aggressibility of tumors, so the level of DDX3X in a patient's body may serve as a special biomarker to predict the malignancy of the disease, the researchers said. Professor Goran Jonsson, one of the researchers, said the activity of the MITF gene could determine the characteristics of melanoma cells and then be directly related to the prognosis of the patients. The lower the level of DDX3X in the patients' tumor cells, the more aggressive the tumor was and the worse the prognosis of the patients.
Further studies are needed to clarify the molecular mechanism by which the MITF gene is regulated, so as to understand the mechanism by which tumor cells spread in the body. Based on these results, it is expected that later researchers will develop new therapies based on the protein DDX3X to inhibit the spread of cancer and improve the prognosis of melanoma patients.
Although melanoma is dangerous, it has a higher cure rate in the early stage, with a five-year survival rate of more than 70%. Therefore, rather than worry about yourself still better to do a physical examination, nip in the bud, early detection early treatment!
In the past 10 years, researchers have developed a variety of new therapies to enhance the body's immune system to attack specific cancer cells, to treat metastatic cancer, and the introduction of these treatments due to a better understanding of the pathogenesis of melanoma, however the current researchers didn't know how cancer cells to spread to other parts of the body. Researcher Dr Cristian Bellodi said that we found that a particular protein called DDX3X regulates the expression of a key gene called MITF, which is essential for the production of pigment cells in the skin; Other researchers have previously found that MITF is a melanoma-specific oncogene that induces tumors, While researchers know the general function of the protein DDX3X, they don't know the link to the MITF gene, so they need to dig deeper to understand the link. DDX3X does not affect whether the body develops malignant melanoma, but it plays a key role in the aggressibility of tumors, so the level of DDX3X in a patient's body may serve as a special biomarker to predict the malignancy of the disease, the researchers said. Professor Goran Jonsson, one of the researchers, said the activity of the MITF gene could determine the characteristics of melanoma cells and then be directly related to the prognosis of the patients. The lower the level of DDX3X in the patients' tumor cells, the more aggressive the tumor was and the worse the prognosis of the patients.
Further studies are needed to clarify the molecular mechanism by which the MITF gene is regulated, so as to understand the mechanism by which tumor cells spread in the body. Based on these results, it is expected that later researchers will develop new therapies based on the protein DDX3X to inhibit the spread of cancer and improve the prognosis of melanoma patients.
Although melanoma is dangerous, it has a higher cure rate in the early stage, with a five-year survival rate of more than 70%. Therefore, rather than worry about yourself still better to do a physical examination, nip in the bud, early detection early treatment!
