A team of scientists has identified bits of DNA, known as extrachromosomal DNA or ecDNA, that can act as “Bond villains” in the way they help cancer spread.
It is largely thanks to you that tumors gain resistance to anticancer drugs.
Paul Mischel, from Stanford University, is one of the authors of the discovery. In statements to The Guardianthe scientist said that this is a breakthrough “revolutionary”, that could transform cancer treatment.
“We believe they are responsible for a large number of the most advanced and serious cancers currently affecting people. If we can block their activity, we can block the spread of these cancers,” explains Mischel.
O ecDNA it has been known for some years, but its importance for cancer has only now been revealed. Howard Chang, a geneticist at Stanford University, explains that these bits of DNA work like James Bond villains.
“We found that ecDNA acts like cancer-causing genes that somehow got separated from a person’s chromosomes and started behaving in a way that circumvented the normal rules of genetics,” Chang said.
“They behave like villains in a Bond movie. At first, in a movie, you see different explosions, murders and disasters happening and you don’t know why they are happening or who is responsible. Then, at a certain point, he finally meets the villain who turns out to be the agent of all this chaos,” he added.
We know that tumors arise when genes cause the cell to divide uncontrollably. These genes are known as oncogenes and can be treated with a variety of medications and therapies.
“However, resistance to these drugs or therapies usually sets in after a while, and this allows the cancer to come back. Now we discover that in some of the most aggressive forms of cancer, the oncogenes are not where we thought they were. They are actually in the extrachromosomal DNA.”details Mischel.
Scientists are confident that they will be able to find ways to remove ecDNA from patients. To this end, scientists are now trying to identify the ecDNA’s Achilles heel.
So far, they have identified a protein that helps hold it together and one medicine which has a promising effect on this protein. Thanks to this, in the coming years, the treatment of some of the most aggressive cancers could change radically.
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