An international group of oncologists has recently discovered a new way of potentially controlling the spread of cancers even durings its final stages.
The research was led by Mayo Clinic and has found a certain pathway that makes better diagnosis of the cancer and creates a possible treatment.
"We believe we have identified a mechanism that seizes the cancer's biological engine and could potentially stop it in its tracks," said Thai Ho, Mayo Clinic, an oncologist and lead study author, in the EurekAlert press release.
The research is still in its early stages but the team is currently working on the validation of the test involving the recently discovered epigenomic fingerprint, H3K36me3 loss. According to researchers, this fingerprint could hold the key to early diagnosis of cancers and individualized treatment plans.
The diagnostic test and possible treatment are based on a promising discipline known as epigenomics, which is defined as a complex life process in which individual body cells interpret genetic blueprints and decide what type of tissues they will develop into.
The new study appearing in Oncogene is focused on the epigenomic fingerprint of metastatic cancers. In this case, the body usually mistakes healthy genetic blueprint for an unhealthy one and as a result, more cancer cells will be produced.
Researchers will then focus more on that certain genetic fingerprint to determine how cells develop to become what they are.
Epigenomics is explained by Ho by comparing it to the life of bees. According to him, all bees within a hive have the same DNA sequence.
Despite that, some bees will become sterile workers, others will become drones, and there are those that become the queen. This differentiation, according to Ho, is due to epigenomics.
According to ABC15, researchers are now studying to see if there's a way to tweak a specific gene in a cell and instruct it not to become cancerous.
