One of the possible factors that lead to Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia is when a child or a patient has a chromosomal defect or any types of genetic mutation in his or her chromosomes. Interestingly, I found an article on ScienceDaily that has published last month on 24th of September claims that researchers have found how defect or mutation in a certain chromosome leads to blood cancer. This finding could change the future treatments’ journey and development.
Many of the leukemia cancer patients have partial deletion on their chromosome 9 in this study case. Their body can not express and produce the tumor suppressor hnRNP K that controls the spread of cancerous cells. "Our findings showed that hnRNP K haploinsufficiency led to tumor development by deregulating cell proliferation and differentiation programs through control of key cellular pathways,…" assert and claim by the researchers at University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Now, what's next? Can this tumor suppressor be developed in laboratories? How safe is this treatment? These are the questions that ring in my head after reading the article. This treatment falls under targeted cancer therapy because it is a drug that is introduced to patient's body to stop the cancer cells from rapidly growing and spreading to other tissues. However, targeted cancer therapy has some limitations. Some patients develop resistance to some drugs. Another limitation is that some molecular targets develop mutation and find new pathway to develop and spread more cancer cells. Lastly, sometimes it is hard to develop a drug that targets complicated molecular targets due to their structural complexity. Is the protein coding- gene hnRNP K a complex molecule?
The article hasn't stated yet any thing about these concerns. Patients' family and guardians may be concerned about the effectiveness and the success rate of this drug. However, since this discovery is recent, patients will have to wait for the upcoming hopeful news. This news could change their fate and treatment courses.
News Source:
University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. "Leukemia tumor suppressor identified." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 24 September 2015 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150924124459.htm
Other Source:
Targeted Cancer Therapies (National Cancer Institute) http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/types/targeted-therapies/targeted-therapies-fact-sheet
Wow very interesting article and very good job with the blog again! It is very interesting how far scientist have been able to come with the understandings of this type of leukemia and the genetic makeup of it. Do you believe that they will develop a cure and fully understand everything about this disease in the years to come because they seem to have already made great progress regarding it? Also do you think their understandings of the hnRPN K gene will improve within the next year or so?
ReplyDeleteI liked the article and thought that your question regarding the future of treatment has merit and is something people should focus on, and probably do some more research. I hope to read more and can't wait for your next post.
ReplyDeleteI think that you raised some important question, so after knowing what cause the disease, what is next? Knowing the molecular biology of the disease will definitely help in designing drugs that target those defects. however, if someone is missing a gene, gene therapy would be best for this issue. I think introducing a healthy genes into the cell is difficult, but still could be a potential treatment.
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