Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) scientists have discovered a gene-regulating snippet of RNA that may contribute to the spread of many breast cancers. In animal experiments, the researchers could reduce the growth of metastatic tumors with a molecule designed to target that RNA and trigger its destruction. The same strategy, they say, could be used to develop a new breast cancer treatment for patients.
The study, led by CSHL Professor and Director of Research David Spector, was reported in the journal Nature Communications. In 2016, Spector and colleagues identified dozens of RNA molecules that were more prevalent in breast cancer cells than in noncancerous cells of the same type.
