A special class of ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules, called long intergenic non-coding RNAs (lincRNA), may provide a new target for preventing and treating gastric, or stomach, cancer, according to Case CCC Cancer Genomics and Epigenomics Program member Kishore Guda, DVM, PhD, who led the team that discovered this breakthrough.
The team discovered that the particular lincRNA molecule they found, lincPRKD, is activated in both gastric and esophageal cancers. The goal is to determine how often this molecule is activated in these cancers and identify whether these RNA molecules are more common in any particular tumor subgroups. To do this, they will use existing gastric and esophageal cancer tissues and test whether they can be used to detect the cancer early.
The researchers also plan to grow recently harvested cancer biopsy tissues from patients in immune-compromised mouse models and to test whether blocking the molecules can stop malignant tumors from forming.
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The research was published recently in Gastro Hep Advances by Case CCC Cancer Genomics and Epigenomics Program member Andrew Blum, MD, PhD, and trainee associate member Durga Ravillah, PhD (first author).
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