Pinpointing how cancer cells cope with chemotherapy

PA 40/10 Scientists at The University of Nottingham have pinpointed one of the mechanisms which cancer cells use to survive chemotherapy. Dr Ian Cannell, under the supervision of Dr Martin Bushell, in the School of Pharmacy's RNA Biology Group, has discovered that miR-34c — one of the hundreds of microRNAs used by our bodies to regulate genes — is critical in the control of Myc — one of the commonest cancer genes. Everyday we are exposed to things that damage our DNA — such as lifestyle factors and environmental poisons. Our bodies use a number of checkpoints to detect damaged DNA and allow it to be repaired. Mutations that prevent these checkpoints from functioning can lead to cancer. This research, funded by the BBSRC, has delved beyond what is known about one of the remaining checkpoints in cancer cells — giving deep molecular insight into how these cells respond to chemotherapy. Dr Cannell and Dr Bushell have discovered that cancer cells use miR-34c to repress the control function of Myc.