University Of Virginia : Gene Discovery Could Lead to Better Treatment of Childhood Cancers.
ENPNewswire-July 29, 2022--University Of Virginia : Gene Discovery Could Lead to Better Treatment of Childhood Cancers
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Release date- 27072022 - A gene that UVA Health researchers discovered is responsible for the deadliest type of brain tumor is also responsible for two forms of childhood cancer, the scientists have found.
The new discovery may open the door to the first targeted treatments for two types of rhabdomyosarcoma, a cancer of the soft tissue that primarily strikes young children. The gene may also play an important role in other cancers that form in muscle, fat, nerves and other connective tissues in both children and adults, the research suggests.
'We accumulated multiple lines of evidence supporting [the gene] AVIL is powerful driver for both major types of rhabdomyosarcoma,' said Hui Li, a researcher with the University of Virginia School of Medicine's Department of Pathology and UVA Cancer Center.
Li and his team discovered in 2020 that AVIL is the gene responsible for glioblastoma, the most lethal form of brain cancer. Less than 7% of patients with glioblastoma survive five years after diagnosis.
Hui Li smiles at the camera
The new discovery is an extention of UVA researcher Hui Li's earlier work. He says the cancer-causing gene he identified in 2020 is more important than he first realized. (Contributed photo)
Li's 2020 discovery was named one of the year's biggest biomedical discoveries by the editors of health news site STAT. Li's latest work builds on that research and suggests that AVIL is even more important than previously realized.
Malfunctions in AVIL, Li and his team found, play an essential role in the development of the two main subtypes of rhabdomyosarcoma. In a scientific paper outlining the findings, he and his colleagues describe rhabdomyosarcoma as 'addicted' to the gene's excess activity. They ultimately label AVIL a 'bona fide oncogene' for rhabdomyosarcoma. 'Oncogene' means cancer-causing.
AVIL may be the convergence point for two different cellular processes that cause soft-tissue cells to become cancerous, the researchers note. Blocking the activity of AVIL, they found, prevented the formation of rhabdomyosarcoma in both cell samples in lab dishes and in mouse...
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