Nat Med: Scientists interpreted the mystery of the anti-cancer gene p53!

In a recent study published in Nature Medicine, scientists from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Australia discovered that particular type of gene that functions normally during normal DNA repair in the human body may be very important for the function of p53. The results of related studies may help researchers better identify patients with a higher risk of certain types of cancer, and at the same time may also help to develop safer and more effective treatments for cancer.

In this study, the researchers first tested how p53 inhibited the growth of cancer; the researchers Janic said that this is an exciting and unprecedented discovery and they found that the DNA repair gene MLH1 and additional DNA repair genes are essential for p53 inhibition of B cell lymphoma development; MLH1 is a powerful weapon for p53 to protect against cancer. It can help clinicians diagnose patients early and develop safer and more targeted therapies. For example, if a patient has a lymphoma with a mutation (ie, a loss of DNA repair mechanism), doctors can effectively avoid the use of specific DNA damage therapies, such as chemotherapy, because these treatments may make the cancer worse.

The researchers said that currently they have clarified the importance of MLH1 and other DNA repair factors, and then they can find ways to identify the weaknesses, that is, to clarify how the absence of these factors affects the function of cancer cells, and to develop an effective treatment. These findings reveal the importance of performing detailed functionalities. The researchers screened more than 300 downstream targets of p53 in order to identify genes that are important for p53 tumor suppressor function.

The deletion of the DNA repair gene MLH1 can effectively inhibit the normal function of p53, thereby promoting the occurrence of lymphoma, and when the function of MLH1 returns to normal, the occurrence of tumors will be significantly inhibited; therefore, the researchers would like to further study other DNA repair genes to elucidate the importance of the overall DNA repair mechanism for the ability of p53 to inhibit cancer development. Researcher Professor Strasser said that understanding the working mechanism of p53 is the focus of cancer researchers; nearly half of the global cancer incidence is the result of abnormal p53 function. For a long time researchers have been aware of the importance of p53, but despite the large number of research, they still cannot explain how the protein effectively blocks the development of cancer.

Next, the researchers hope to be able to clarify multiple genes that are regulated by p53 to gain insights into other potential processes that may affect p53 function. Researchers also want to study whether or not apart from lymphoma, DNA repair process has a certain blocking effect on other cancers, such as pancreatic cancer and colon cancer. Finally, the researchers pointed out that p53 mutations are related to 70% of colon cancer and pancreatic cancer. Therefore, findings of this study is also quite important to understand the pathogenesis of these two types of cancer. Researchers want to clarify whether genes involved in the DNA repair process can also help p53 inhibit the development of related cancers through later studies.