Cancer is one of the diseases that occurs most in the world and that causes the most mortality (being the second cause of death in the world). The Chronic lymphocytic leukemia is the type of most common cancer in humans and occurs in people over 60 years of age. There are some of the thousand cases diagnosed every year in Spain (5 people out of 100 thousand).
Scientists explain that one third of those diagnosed have a “indolent course“, where the leukemia progresses so slowly that treatment is not necessary. Another third have an indolent course at first, but as the disease progresses, bone marrow does not produce normal cells and they do require drugs. Finally, the last third require the drugs from the start. There are different types of treatments for leukemia whose development is more aggressive for the patient, such as chemotherapy and immunotherapyWhat are they effectivebut they can’t make the disease go away completely. Over time it reappears.
The experts of Superior Council of Scientific Investigations (CSIC) together with the members of the Spanish Association Against Cancer they have discovered the existence of a gene that causes this type of cancer. This had already been discovered several years ago in other investigations, but the scientists decided not to continue investigating it since does not present any type of mutationunlike of the rest of genes specific to other types of cancer (those oncogenes) that do contain mutations.
How does this cancer occur?
However, the researchers suspected there was a gene overrepresentationRRAS2, can lead to cancer. They observed, through tests carried out with mice, that not only caused chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 100% of them, but other tumors also appeared As the breast cancer (only in those females that had given birth previously) and that of the bile ducts (common in Southeast Asia).
This gene is “first cousin” of the gene KRAS, associated with a 50% of colorectal cancers. However the RRAS2 does not require a mutation. “We have found a markerwhat is a possible regulator of messenger RNA of this gene”, clarifies Balbino AlarconResearch Professor at the CSIC in the Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Center. “There are a fraction of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia leads to another type of cancerwhat is a lymphoma And it is more aggressive“explains the teacher.
Nowadays they are perfecting an inhibitor direct from RRAS2as Alarcón declares: “We are behind a drug that can be used in this type of leukemia or in other types of cancers caused by the overrepresentation of this gene”. In the best of cases could cure the diseaseor failing that, be used as combination with existing therapies. What is clear is that open the door to other research and new treatments.
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