miR-506, a non-coding RNA molecule that helps to control gene expression, may play a role in chemotherapy resistance in patients with ovarian cancer, according to a recent study published in theJournal of the National Cancer Institute.
Biomarker may affect chemo resistance in patients with advanced ovarian cancer
the Oncology Nurse Advisor take:
miR-506, a non-coding RNA molecule that helps to control gene expression, may play a role in chemotherapy resistance in patients with ovarian cancer, according to a recent study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Wei Zhang, PhD, of the MD Anderson Cancer Center and fellow researchers looked at patient data from The Cancer Genome Atlas and other independent clinical populations. In previous studies, they noted that the miR-506 molecule had the potential to sensitize cancer cells to chemotherapy.
In the present study, they found that response to chemotherapy drugs such as cisplatin and olaparib in epithelial ovarian cancer was significantly improved when miR-506 was added to the treatment.
“miR-506 was associated with better response to therapy and longer progression-free and overall survival,” Dr. Zhang said.
Previous studies found that the molecule was a potent inhibitor of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, which is associated with chemoresistance.
“This study provides further insight into this molecule’s role in augmenting chemotherapy responses by directly affecting the DNA repair process used by cancer cells to counter DNA damages caused by chemotherapy,” Dr. Zhang said.
