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Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Scientists discover new cause of aggressive cancer in young people... and a possible treatment
A little-known molecule in the body may be the key to treating aggressive cancer that often strikes young people, a study suggests. Researchers in New York reviewed records from 11,000 cancer patients to evaluate long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), a type of RNA molecule that helps regulate gene behavior and distinguish healthy from non-healthy cells. While studying human breast tumor models, they found a specific type of lncRNA called LINC01235, which has previously been linked to stomach cancer, may be feeding breast cancer cells. The team tested their hypothesis using gene editing to 'turn off' LINC01235 in cells from triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), an aggressive form of the disease that's resistant to standard hormonal treatments. They found cancer cells without LINC01235 grew more slowly and were worse at forming tumors than those with the activated molecule. The experts, from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island, believe LINC01235 activates another gene called NFIB, which has been shown to increase the risk of triple-negative breast cancer. NFIB then controls how cells grow and develop, leading to them becoming cancer cells. By turning off the molecule (LINC01235) that encourages the TNBC-linked gene (NFIB) to proliferate, researchers believe it could inhibit tumor growth and spread. Study researcher David Spector believes the findings could also lead to new treatments for triple-negative breast cancer, which accounts for 10 to 15 percent of breast cancer diagnoses and disproportionately is diagnosed in young women. He said: 'Our long-term goal is to try to find an lncRNA or multiple lncRNAs that may eventually be therapeutic targets.' Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, affecting 316,000 per year and killing 42,000 in the US. About to 10 to 15 percent of breast cancers are triple-negative, adding up to as many as 47,000 cases and 6,300 deaths. Triple-negative means cancer cells don't have receptors that respond to the hormones estrogen and progesterone and the protein HER-2. Without these receptors, triple-negative breast cancers don't respond to treatments that target those hormones, making them harder to treat. Though the survival rate is over 90 percent if caught in earlier stages, those figures drop as low as 15 percent when the disease spreads to lymph nodes and other organs. It's most common in Black women and those under 40 and is one of the many forms of the disease on the rise, along with colon and lung cancers. In the new study, published in Molecular Cancer Research, tumor samples were taken from breast cancer patients in New York and used to make organoids, small models of tumors. They were then compared to healthy tissue samples. The researchers found breast cancer tumors had significantly higher expressions of LINC01235 than healthy tissue. LINC01235 was then deactivated with CRISPR, a type of gene editing that has mostly been tested in head, neck, gastrointestinal and brain cancers. Since tumor growth slowed when researchers deactivated LINC01235, the team suspected the molecule increases the growth of breast cancer cells. They suspected LINC01235 activates the gene NFIB, which has most often been tied to triple-negative breast cancer compared to other forms of breast cancer. It's believed NFIB suppresses the expression of p21, a protein that inhibits cell growth. With this protein suppressed, cancer cells can grow unchecked. Lead researcher Wenbo Xu, a graduate student at Stony Brook University, said: 'Our findings demonstrate that LINC01235 positively regulates NFIB transcription.' The team said the findings could be the first step in developing CRISPR technology to treat triple-negative breast cancer.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
AstraZeneca considers moving listing to US, the Times reports
July 1 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca (AZN.L), opens new tab is considering moving its stock market listing from London, where it is the exchange's most valuable company, to the United States, the Times reported on Tuesday, citing multiple sources. Any such move would be a major blow to the UK stock market (.FTSE), opens new tab, which has seen a string of delistings and missed out on some major initial public offerings in recent months. It would also appeal to President Donald Trump's hopes of drawing investment to the United States, even as his trade policy has created uncertainty for global companies. He has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on pharmaceutical imports. CEO Pascal Soriot has privately expressed a preference to shift AstraZeneca's listing on multiple occasions and has also discussed relocating the company's domicile, the Times said. AstraZeneca, which has a market value of about 156 billion pounds ($213 billion), declined to comment. The company has for years criticised the UK business investment climate. In January it scrapped plans to invest 450 million pounds in its vaccine manufacturing plant in northern England, citing a cut in government support. Meanwhile, the company has been strengthening its ties to the U.S. over the past year, both in terms of manufacturing investment and contacts with investors and lawmakers. Its U.S. plans include a $3.5 billion investment in domestic manufacturing by the end of 2026. The company earlier this year also rejoined the leading U.S. drug lobby group, roughly two years after leaving it. The U.S. is also AstraZeneca's largest market, accounting for about 42% of its revenue in the first quarter of this year. Soriot could face opposition from some board members and the UK government if he pursues the move, according to the Times report, which added that the government had not been informed. London-listed shares in AstraZeneca last traded up 2.8% at 10,328 pence.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
No need for ‘ventriloquists' to give NHS patients a voice
Patients do not need 'ventriloquists' from arm's length bodies to speak for them, and more weight should be given to the likes of MPs and councillors, according to the Health Secretary. Wes Streeting suggested the patient safety landscape is 'cluttered', with NHS leaders receiving 'competing and contradictory instructions' from different organisations. He also said the creation of 'totally undemocratic' organisations is 'self infantilising' on politicians. It comes as reports from over the weekend suggested hundreds of bodies that oversee and run parts of the health service will be axed under the upcoming 10-year health plan. This could include Healthwatch England, the National Guardian's Office and the Health Services Safety Investigations Body. In March, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer also unveiled plans to scrap NHS England in a bid to slash bureaucracy and duplication. When asked about the reports on Healthwatch England and other organisations at the Local Government Association's annual conference in Liverpool on Tuesday, Mr Streeting said: 'There are way too many checkers and not enough doers in the system. 'And I think there are lots of ways in which we have tried to create new bodies to fulfil the failure of other parts of the state to do their job effectively. 'I mean, the revolution we're leading in patient voice will mean we can get rid of some of the intermediaries, and we don't need ventriloquists to speak for patients, patients can speak for ourselves if we're given the opportunity to do it.' He also called for 'more weight' to be given to democratically elected representatives, adding that some organisations were created to 'do the jobs politicians should be doing'. 'We're councillors, leaders, cabinet members, mayors and Members of Parliament, and at the moment, I think lots of us would feel that as elected representatives, that we don't have enough sense of agency and partnership and democratic accountability that I think we are owed,' Mr Streeting said. 'I think this actually speaks to the corrosion of of our democracy and politics more generally; we keep on inventing a whole load of organisations to do the jobs that politicians should be doing, and thereby sending a message to the public, that voting doesn't change anything, that we don't trust politicians and government to lead things locally or nationally, so we create a totally undemocratic set of organisations to do things for us, because we almost don't trust ourselves. 'And not only, I think, is that self infantilising on the politicians, it's also wasting public money that is in scarce supply. So we're taking the axe to lots of those organisations.' Mr Streeting also vowed to 'take a much more data and evidence based approach to quality and safety and try and declutter the patient safety landscape'. He said: 'I understand how we got here. Many of my predecessors, with good intentions, encountered challenges around patient safety and quality. 'They could see the bodies that already existed weren't doing an effective enough job. 'Rather than grasp to nettle and sort those organisations out, they created new organisations. 'If they felt that regulations weren't working effectively, they introduced more regulations, and in doing so, gave false comforts themselves and false comfort to the country that by adding more organisations and more regulations, we will necessarily be safer. 'We have cluttered the patient safety landscape to such an extent that the poor people on the front line and NHS leaders are on the receiving end of a whole number of sometimes competing and contradictory instructions from a wide range of organisations all trying to do the same job.' Mr Streeting also vowed to start working with local government on NHS winter planning 'much earlier' this year. He said: 'I am under no illusion about how serious the pressures are, and you'll be pleased to know that we are going much faster this year on winter planning, and we'll be engaging with you much earlier in the year on preparations for winter.'
