Scientists at Northwestern Medicine have discovered that blocking a protein called GATA6 in mice with colon cancer slowed down tumor growth and helped the mice live longer. This breakthrough suggests that targeting GATA6 could lead to new treatments for colon cancer. The study was recently published in Science Advances.
Dr. Feng Yue, a leading researcher in the study, explained that this is the first time scientists have shown that GATA6 controls many important cancer-related genes in colon cancer. He believes this discovery could open the door to new ways of treating the disease.
Colon cancer is one of the most common cancers in the U.S., ranking fourth in diagnoses. While current treatments like surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation can be effective, the five-year survival rate is still only 65%. This means there is a need for better, more targeted treatments.
Scientists already knew that high levels of GATA6 are linked to colon cancer growth and spread. However, they didn’t fully understand how the protein affects cancer at the genetic level. To learn more, Yue’s team analyzed genetic data from colon cancer patients and studied tumor samples.
They found that GATA6 attaches to specific areas of DNA that are active in cancer cells. These areas, known as enhancers, help the cancer grow. They also discovered that GATA6 interacts with another protein called CTCF, which usually helps prevent tumors but may be disrupted in colon cancer.
One of the most exciting discoveries was how GATA6 affects the way DNA folds inside cells. DNA folding is crucial because it determines how genes are turned on or off.
Yue said that scientists previously knew little about which proteins control this process in different types of tissue. His team showed that GATA6 plays a key role in shaping the DNA structure in colon cancer cells.
To test whether blocking GATA6 could stop cancer growth, the researchers used advanced gene-editing tools, including CRISPR, to remove GATA6 from colon cancer cells. They found that without GATA6, the cancer cells struggled to grow and multiply.
When they tested this in mice with colon cancer, the results were even more promising. Mice that had GATA6 blocked survived longer and had slower tumor growth compared to those with normal levels of the protein. This suggests that GATA6 could be a powerful target for future colon cancer treatments.
Yue and his team now plan to investigate whether GATA6 plays a similar role in other types of cancer. They also hope to develop drugs that can specifically block GATA6 in cancer patients. The next step will be testing whether such drugs can slow down cancer growth in humans.
If scientists can successfully create a GATA6-blocking drug, it could lead to a new, more effective treatment for colon cancer and possibly other cancers as well. This research is an important step toward better understanding the disease and finding new ways to fight it.
If you care about cancer risk, please read studies that exercise may stop cancer in its tracks, and vitamin D can cut cancer death risk.
For more information about cancer, please see recent studies that yogurt and high-fiber diet may cut lung cancer risk, and results showing that new cancer treatment may reawaken the immune system.
The research findings can be found in Science Advances.
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