Scientists in Australia have made a major discovery about how cancer might start in the body.
They found that tiny circular pieces of genetic material, called circular RNAs, may damage our DNA and lead to cancer.
These molecules were once thought to be unimportant, but this new study shows they may play a much bigger role in our health.
The study was led by researchers at Flinders University and is opening up a whole new area of cancer research. The team, led by Professor Simon Conn, discovered that certain circular RNAs can stick to the DNA in our cells.
When they do, they can cause breaks in the DNA. Although our cells try to repair these breaks, the repairs are not always perfect. Mistakes can happen, and those mistakes—called mutations—can lead to cancer.
The scientists named this new process ER3D, which stands for endogenous RNA-directed DNA damage. It’s the first time scientists have found that circular RNA, which comes from our own body, could directly damage DNA and start the process that leads to cancer.
To understand this better, the researchers studied blood from newborn babies. They compared babies who later developed a type of blood cancer called acute leukemia with babies who stayed healthy.
They found that the babies who later got leukemia had much higher levels of a certain circular RNA at birth. This suggests that these RNAs might be causing damage and increasing cancer risk even before any signs appear.
Professor Conn explained that circular RNAs can attach to many places in the DNA. This creates breaks in the genetic code. When the cell tries to fix the breaks, it sometimes makes errors. For example, two separate genes can be accidentally fused together, which is a known cause of aggressive leukemia and other cancers.
Dr. Vanessa Conn, the lead author of the study, said that more than one circular RNA can be active at the same time. This means even more DNA breaks can happen, increasing the chances of dangerous changes to the cell’s genetic structure.
One serious change, called chromosomal translocation, happens when pieces from different chromosomes stick together. This can cause cancer cells to grow very quickly. The new study also helps explain why certain parts of the DNA, called leukemia hotspots, often mutate in leukemia patients.
Until now, scientists weren’t sure what caused these hotspots to change. This study suggests circular RNAs may be the hidden cause.
This discovery is especially important for Australia, which has the highest reported rates of leukemia in the world. Knowing how circular RNAs work could help doctors detect cancer earlier and create better treatments.
Even though this study focused on leukemia, the scientists believe that ER3D might also be involved in other cancers and diseases. The team at Flinders University is continuing their research to learn more about how circular RNAs affect the body. Their work could lead to new ways to find or prevent cancer before it becomes serious.
This research was published in the journal Cancer Cell and is seen as a big step forward in understanding how cancer might begin at the genetic level—and how we might stop it in the future.
If you care about cancer, please read studies about common drugs for inflammation may help kill cancer, and statin drugs can starve cancer cells to death.
For more information about cancer, please see recent studies about these two things are key to surviving cancer and results showing common Indian fruit may slow down cancer growth.
Copyright © 2025 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
