2024-07-11 11:28:10
The study was conducted by scientists from the McGill University Health Center Research Institute (MUHC) and Baylor College of Medicine in Texas.
Because of the lack of effective treatment, tumors known as ependymomas of the posterior fossa group A (PFA) have the highest recurrence rate and the poorest prognosis of all childhood cancers.
Dr. Nada Jabado, principal investigator at the MUHC, explained that the treatment available so far includes surgery and radiotherapy, but the cancer usually returns.
“It’s a cancer that affects very young children, babies, up to six or seven years old. Sometimes a little later, but especially in young children,” said Ms Jabado. “Almost 70% of them die in the first few years, and up to 90% after that. Some people get through, but it’s rare.”
The researchers studied the interactions between regions of the genome specific to PFAs. They named these predictable sections TULIPs, or Type B Ultra-Long-Range Interactions in PFAs.
“TULIPs are three-dimensional structures inside the nucleus that are very specific to that tumor, that are only present in that tumor, and that cause the cell to maintain a very undifferentiated and aggressive phenotype,” explains Dr. Jabado. “In order to understand what holds these structures together, we could try to provide a treatment, because if we could dissolve them, the [TULIP] it would be eliminated and the cells would mature better, allowing us to give relief to these children.”
Marco Gallo, the main author of the study, said in a statement that TULIPs interact with others over long distances, for example from one side of a chromosome to the other, with surprising strength. “TULIPs on different chromosomes can come together and interact strongly with each other,” Gallo said. “We also found that regions outside TULIPs appear more relaxed overall. This is important because TULIPs are linked to cell function.
By inhibiting specific proteins that carry TULIPs, the team observed “weaker interactions between TULIPs and impaired PFA cell survival,” according to the press release. The team’s observations suggest that interactions between TULIPs are “important for PFA cell viability, opening the door to new potential therapy targets.”
See also: Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean makes its place in the field of clinical research
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