VARANASI, 22.09.2023: A team of researchers from the School of Biotechnology, Institute of Science, has come up with a major finding, which could be significantly important in exploring new therapy for cervical cancer. The team comprising Dr. Samarendra Kumar Singh, and Ms. Garima Singh, who is pursuing Ph.D. under the supervision of Dr. Singh, discovered a Micro RNA cluster that specifically suppresses the proliferation of cervical cancer cells. The work carried out at the Cell Cycle and Cancer Lab, School of Biotechnology, showed that a human micro-RNA cluster, miR-17~92 suppresses an oncogenic cell cycle factor Cdt2/DTL inhibiting the growth and cancer progression of cervical cancer cells specifically, with no significant effect on non-cancerous cells. The finding could lead to developing a safer and specific therapy in management of cervical cancer.
Dr. Samarendra Singh said, “the promising outcome of this study is the first-ever work to show that miR-17~92 suppresses cervical cancer cells by regulating cell cycle. MicroRNAs have emerged as an important regulator of cell cycle and various other cellular processes. Aberration in microRNAs has been linked with development of various diseases including cancers, but the mechanism behind this regulation is yet to be explored”. We have reported that the discovered micro-RNA destabilizes certain transcripts of oncogenic factors suppressing the growth of cervical cancer cell lines. Due to this, the metastatic and proliferative capacity of cancerous cells is highly compromised, added Dr. Singh.
The research findings have been published in one of the prestigious Springer Nature Journals ‘Discover Oncology’.
The Cell Cycle and Cancer Lab conducts research in the field of cancer, especially cervical and gastrointestinal cancers. The lab uses various molecular biology, biochemistry and structural biology tools to execute the work. It attempts to investigate why and how cell cycle behavior in cancer cells is mis-regulated. Earlier, the lab reported another micro-RNA, miR-34a which could suppress the cancer progression by targeting an essential viral protein E6 which was published in ‘BMC Cancer’. The lab has also found a novel way to diagnose cancer by evaluating load of tumor DNA in the serum of cervical cancer patients which was published in a very reputed journal of cancer called ‘JCRT’.
Online link of the study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37707654/
