Spanish scientists are developing a new therapy against the most aggressive thyroid cancer

A team of scientists from the Research Center for Molecular Medicine (CiMUS) of the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) has developed a new Anaplastic therapy for thyroid cancer (CAT), a type as rare as it is aggressive. There are virtually no treatments available today, so this medical advance opens the door to hope for a cure for a disease that has a five-year survival rate of just 5%.

As reflected in the results of the study, which was published in the journal Natural communicationsthis new therapy can selectively destroy cancer cells without harming healthy people by identifying the therapeutic agent PIAS2b-dsRNAi. The use of PIAS2b-dsRNAi is based on the discovery that one of the differences between anaplastic cancer and normal cells, which in turn is important for their proliferation, can be used as its Achilles heel.

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“This discovery represents a significant advance in the fight against this very challenging disease,” said Dr. Clara Alvarez, co-principal investigator of the study, who notes that it represents an entirely new approach to treating anaplastic thyroid cancer. This tumor accounts for only 1–2% of all thyroid cancers, but has specific mortality rate more than 90%, according to the National Cancer Institute. One of the reasons these numbers are so disappointing is that the occurrence of metastases is quite common.

Researchers have discovered that the enzyme PIAS2b plays a critical role in cell survival

Anaplasty of the thyroid gland. Unlike normal cells or other types of cancer, anaplastic cell division is dependent on PIAS2b. This discovery has provided the opportunity to develop targeted therapies that specifically target this key enzyme. So they developed RNA therapeutic agent double-stranded (dsRNAi), transcribed in vitro, PIAS2b-dsRNAi, which acts as a reverse messenger molecule to suppress enzyme expression in anaplastic cells. As a result, they lose the ability to divide and die in a process known as mitotic catastrophe.

On the other hand, the study was not limited to anaplastic thyroid cancer as PIAS2b-dsRNAi was also shown to be effective in killing anaplastic cancer cells from other sites such as pancreas, lungs or stomach. This paves the way for broader application in the treatment of other tumor types, and the results represent significant progress in the fight against anaplastic thyroid cancer and other types of anaplastic cancer.

CAT particularly affects people over 60 years of age, although all groups of the population are at risk of developing it. MedlinePlus collects some of the symptoms more often:

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• Cough
• Coughing up blood
• Difficulty swallowing
• Hoarseness or change in voice
• Heavy breathing
• A lump on the lower part of the neck that often grows quickly.
• Pain
• Vocal cord paralysis
• Low thyroid function (hyperthyroidism)

*According to Europa Press.