RNA against prostate cancer
A study conducted by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis on mice implanted with human prostate tumor fragments has shown that the restoration of long non-coding RNA can become a new strategy for the treatment of prostate cancer resistant to hormone therapy. Often patients with prostate cancer receive drugs that reduce or block sex hormones that promote tumor growth. After one or two years, most of these patients develop resistance, and treatment becomes ineffective. The development of new treatment methods is extremely important.
The androgen receptor is a protein that, by binding to testosterone, stimulates the growth of a prostate tumor. By studying the section of DNA that encodes the androgen receptor, the researchers found that a neighboring gene produces a molecule called a long non-coding RNA. It plays a key role in the regulation of the androgen receptor. Because of its location next to the androgen receptor gene in the genome, researchers dubbed it NXTAR (next to androgen receptor - next to the androgen receptor).
In prostate cancer, the androgen receptor suppresses its antagonist: it binds to NXTAR and turns it off. Therefore, in the study of prostate cancer samples, NXTAR is determined only after the androgen receptor is turned off. This relationship suggested that NXTAR is a tumor suppressor.
The drug (R)-9b was previously developed to reduce the expression of the androgen receptor and in this study served as a tool for detecting and clarifying the role of NXTAR.
By studying human prostate cancer samples implanted in mice, the researchers showed that restoring NXTAR expression led to a reduction in tumors. They also showed that to achieve this effect, they do not need the entire long non–coding RNA - one small fragment of the NXTAR molecule is enough to turn off the androgen receptor.
If we combine the properties of (R)-9b and NXTAR, we can obtain a new strategy for the treatment of prostate cancer that is resistant to existing therapies. It is proposed to encapsulate (R)-9b and the key part of NXTAR in nanoparticles, possibly in the same nanoparticle, and disable the androgen receptor in two different ways.
The group has filed a patent application for the potential use of NXTAR as a therapeutic agent.
Article by R. Ghildiyal et al. Loss of long non-coding RNA NXTAR in prostate cancer augments androgen receptor expression and enzalutamide resistance is published in the journal Cancer Research.
Aminat Adzhieva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis: New strategy against treatment-resistant prostate cancer identified.