Possible new blood cancer drug target identified

Researchers at New York University (NYU) Langone Medical Center have made a discovery, which could lead to a potential new drug target for tumour growth in common childhood blood cancer.

The study is believed to have been the largest genetic analysis of what triggers and propels progression of tumor growth in t-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The disease is one of the most common and aggressive cancers to affect young people, with a quarter of all adolescents and young adults diagnosed in the US failing to achieve remission from standard chemotherapy.

The research, published in the journal Cell, saw the team use advanced genetic scanning techniques to identify 6,023 long, non-coding strands of RNA - vital chemical cousins of DNA - that were active in the immune system t-cells taken from 15 boys and girls with the disease. They found that these were in the patients with t-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, but not active in the healthy samples from three young people without the disease.

After further analysis, the team found that, by chemically blocking one of the non-protein-producing RNAs called LUNAR1, leukemia progression could be stalled. The team state that LUNAR1 was not singled out from the RNA that is typically used by DNA to make proteins, but instead from the most prevalent RNA that are commonly termed "junk DNA" as they can transcribe DNA but never fully assemble proteins. 

According to the research team, these long non-coding RNAs are increasingly recognised as key to regulating many cell functions.

Senior study investigator and NYU Langone cancer biologist Professor Iannis Aifantis said the study offers preliminary evidence that drugs targeted to block LUNAR1 could treat the aggressive disease, and be the long-sought alternative to chemotherapeutic drugs that kill both cancer and normal cells.

Professor Aifantis also said LUNAR1 could help in terms of diagnosing t-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia as it is "highly specific" to the disease and plays a key role in its development, adding that overproduction of LUNAR1 was recorded in 90 per cent of leukemia patients tested.