Unconventional Cancer Treatment Holds Hope For The Future

Recent findings published in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics show that an unconventional cancer treatment could hold the key to a cure in the future. Researchers examined the KRAS oncogene that's implicated in lung, colon, thyroid and pancreatic cancers.

"KRAS was one of the first cancer-causing genes ever discovered, and it was the obvious target to go after. People have been trying for decades to hit it, but they haven't had much luck,"  said lead study author Chad Pecot, assistant professor of medicine at University of Carolina at Chapel Hill, in a news release. "It has been widely regarded as an undruggable protein, but we show that that's simply not the case."

Researchers discovered that by using a specifically sequenced type of small interfering RNA, also known as siRNA, to block the KRAS oncogene, the RNA and mRNA bind together, helping to carry information for production of proteins-binding to KRAS mRNA, siRNA direct enzymes to destroy mRNA.

Culture studies showed that siRNA bound to KRAS mRNA and resulted in destruction of 9- percent KRAS mRNAS to reduce tumor cell growth. Furthermore, reserchers conducted studies in mice with colon cancer and found that about a 63 percent reduction in tumor growth.

Though the findings are significant, researchers will need to wait to make a target mutated KRAS for the use of siRNAS in humans.