New thyroid cancer therapy won’t harm healthy cells

The work identifies a therapeutic agent that selectively destroys cells of anaplastic thyroid cancer, one of the most aggressive types of cancer.

The study has just been published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications.

Anaplastic thyroid cancer one of more aggressive and destructive, currently offers few effective treatment options, with a five-year survival rate of just 5%. However, a new study carried out by researchers from the Research Center for Molecular Medicine (CIMUS) and the University Hospital Complex of Santiago (CHUS), belonging to the University of Santiago de Compostela and the Galician Health Research Institute (IDIS), led by Clara Alvarez from the Neoplasia and Endocrine Differentiation Group and José Camesel from the Pathology Service, opens the door to innovative therapy.

Study published in a prestigious journal Natural communications, determines the therapeutic agent PIAS2b-dsRNAi, What selectively deletes anaplastic thyroid cancer cells without affecting healthy cells or other benign thyroid cancers. “This discovery represents significant progress in the fight against this very difficult disease,” he says. Clara Alvarez.

Attacking the root of the problem

Researchers have discovered that the enzyme PIAS2b plays a critical role in the survival of anaplastic thyroid cells. Unlike normal cells or other types of cancer, anaplastic cells depend on them to divide. This discovery has provided the opportunity to develop targeted therapies that specifically target this key enzyme.

The team developed a therapeutic agent based on in vitro transcribed double-stranded RNA that acts as a reverse messenger molecule to inhibit the expression of the enzyme in anaplastic cells. As a result, these cells lose their ability to divide and die in a process known as mitotic catastrophe.

Rigorous testing and preclinical data

The effectiveness of the treatment was carefully evaluated in the laboratory using cell cultures from patients with anaplastic thyroid cancer compared with cells from normal, benign, or other types of cancer with a good prognosis. “The results showed that The therapeutic agent was highly selectiveeliminating exclusively anaplastic cells without affecting healthy cells,” explains the CiMUS researcher from the University of Southern California.

To speed up the evaluation, the researchers developed preclinical in vivo trials. They were implanted tumors of cancer patients thyroid anaplasty in mice, and the results of animals receiving this therapy were compared with the control group. Tumors treated with this drug stopped growing, providing preclinical data compelling evidence for the therapeutic potential of this agent.

Also effective against other types of cancer.

The study was not limited to anaplastic thyroid cancer. Research has shown that it is also effective in removing cancer cells anaplastic from other places such as the pancreas, lungs or stomach. This versatility opens the door to wider application in the treatment of different types of anaplastic cancer.

These results represent significant progress in the fight against anaplastic thyroid cancer and other types of anaplastic cancer. PIAS2b-dsRNAi therapy offers promising alternative to the limited treatment options currently available. The researchers hope that this study will encourage pharmaceutical companies to invest in the clinical development of this therapeutic agent with the goal of getting it to patients as quickly as possible.

Confession

This work is a collaboration between clinical researchers, pathologists, and surgeons from CHUS and laboratory researchers from IDIS-USC’s CiMUS. The researchers appreciate the support of SERGAS and the Department of Health of the Province of Junta de Galicia in organizing the collection of TIROJUS, which allowed the serial collection of remains from thyroid surgery. In addition, they express their “deepest admiration for the patients” who, with their boundless generositydonated their tissues for research, especially for women, since this pathology is more common among them.