MicroRNA study opens potential revolution in cancer diagnosis
6/13/2005 Boston, MA Todd Golub et al. Medical News Today (www.medicalnewstoday.com) Despite significant progress in understanding the genetic changes in many different cancers, diagnosis and classification of tumor type remain, at best, an imperfect art. This could change quickly, thanks to the findings of a group of researchers from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, MIT, and St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, TN. In the June 9 issue of Nature, the scientists describe two important breakthroughs: (1) a surprisingly accurate correlation of the 217 known human microRNAs (miRNAs - small noncoding RNA molecules that control the levels of proteins made from transcribed genes) with the development and differentation of tumors, and (2) the development of a technology that not only enabled this exciting discovery but that could be the basis for an easy and inexpensive diagnostic test. "This study opened our eyes to how much more there is to learn about genomic approaches to cancer," said Todd Golub, senior author of the paper. Golub is a core faculty member and director of the Cancer Program at Broad Institute, the Charles A. Dana Investigator in Human Cancer Genetics at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator at Harvard Medical School. "That microRNA profiles have such potential diagnostic utility was a big surprise to us, and one we're keen to validate in future studies." MiRNAs were first identified in the worm C. elegans, and were shown to control development and [...]