MicroRNA-mediated metastasis suppression

Scott Valastyan, lead author on the study, describes it as presenting “detailed mechanistic insight regarding the process of tumor metastasis, and identifies several key regulators of this process that might prove to be interesting diagnostic and/or therapeutic targets in breast cancer.”

Dr. Weinberg's group previously showed that the human microRNA, miR-31, suppresses breast cancer metastasis and that its expression is associated with patient outcome. miR-31 regulates the expression of almost 200 genes. However, in this new paper, the authors identify that re-introduction of three miR-31 targets is sufficient to completely reverse miR-31's influence on metastasis.

The researchers characterized both the individual and overlapping contributions that each of these three miR-31 effectors makes to the metastatic process. While three distinct steps are affected by this cohort of miR-31 targets (namely local invasion, early post-intravasation events and metastatic colonization), of particular interest was the finding that two of the three effectors regulate metastatic colonization – the final and rate-limiting step of metastasis.

Scott Valastyan emphasizes that “Our finding that miR-31, integrin-alpha5, and radixin affect the process of metastatic colonization may be of particular interest in light of the fact that colonization efficiency is strongly associated with patient survival outcome in many human tumor types – including breast cancer”.

Media Contact

Heather Cosel-Pieper EurekAlert!

More Information:

http://www.cshl.edu

All latest news from the category: Life Sciences and Chemistry

Articles and reports from the Life Sciences and chemistry area deal with applied and basic research into modern biology, chemistry and human medicine.

Valuable information can be found on a range of life sciences fields including bacteriology, biochemistry, bionics, bioinformatics, biophysics, biotechnology, genetics, geobotany, human biology, marine biology, microbiology, molecular biology, cellular biology, zoology, bioinorganic chemistry, microchemistry and environmental chemistry.

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

Lighting up the future

New multidisciplinary research from the University of St Andrews could lead to more efficient televisions, computer screens and lighting. Researchers at the Organic Semiconductor Centre in the School of Physics and…

Researchers crack sugarcane’s complex genetic code

Sweet success: Scientists created a highly accurate reference genome for one of the most important modern crops and found a rare example of how genes confer disease resistance in plants….

Evolution of the most powerful ocean current on Earth

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current plays an important part in global overturning circulation, the exchange of heat and CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere, and the stability of Antarctica’s ice sheets….

Partners & Sponsors