Northwestern University scientists have found a cancer kill code in the body that could eliminate the need for chemotherapy. Every cell in the body comes equipped with this kill switch to destroy cancerous cells.
When the “kill switch” begins to detect cancer in any of the body’s cells, it uses this code to eradicate it. Both small ribonucleic acids (RNAs) and large protein-coding RNAs have the cancer elimination code embedded in them.
Scientists believe that microRNAs developed the cancer kill switch over 800 million years ago as a survival mechanism. This natural defense helps protect the body from cancer, but chemotherapy also triggers these small RNA molecules.
When cancer comes in contact with damaging RNAs, it can’t adapt or survive. Therefore, Northwestern University scientists believe a synthetic duplication could be a viable treatment in the future. Their study marks the first discovery that cancer cells cannot resist microRNA molecules.
“Now that we know the kill code, we can trigger the mechanism without having to use chemotherapy and without messing with the genome. We can use these small RNAs directly, introduce them into cells and trigger the kill switch,” said the lead author Marcus E. Peter, the Tomas D. Spies Professor of Cancer Metabolism at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
Chemotherapy can result in many unwanted side effects, including causing additional cancers. This happens because it attacks both healthy and unhealthy cells. However, a natural treatment using microRNA would have a more targeted approach.
Through their research, the scientists determined that small RNA molecules kill cancer cells in a process called DISE. This stands for Death by Induced Survival gene Elimination.
When the team examined noncoding RNA molecules that inhibit gene expression, they found DISE nucleotide sequences on many RNA strands. They also found the same sequences embedded in many protein-coding molecules.
Scientists Discover Cancer Kill Code That May Replace Chemotherapy
“We found weapons that are downstream of chemotherapy,” noted Peter, a member of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.
