Wanting to cure cancer

1998/03/01 Estonba, Andone Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Biologia
• Genetika

In the Faculty of Sciences of Leioa, professor Ana Zubiaga and her team are carrying out the research project “Regulation of the degradation of RNA messengers of oncogene proto and cytokines”.

Professor of Genetics, Ana Zubiaga, made her postdoctoral degree at Harvard University in Boston, where she started this research and when she returned to Leioa she has continued to work with two professors and two doctoral students. In this project there is no foreign cooperation, but Ana frequently returns to the United States to discuss and contrast opinions with professor and researcher Michael Greenberg.

Studies carried out so far have confirmed that the lack of regulation of certain genes can cause cancer, so the knowledge of these regulatory mechanisms will be of great interest to know and master the factors that influence the genesis of cancer. Proto-oncogenes and cytokines are some of these genes.

Proto-oncogenes are genes that are found in normal cells and are very important for cell requirements. We know they can also appear with certain cancers, which are known as oncogenes. The second type of genes, cytokine, is related to growth factors.

The mission of the messenger RNA is to express the information contained in the gene as a protein. The stability of the messenger RNA of proto-oncogenes and cytokines is very controlled. In normal cells, for example, the degradation of these RNAs is very fast, while in some tumor cells it has been observed that this process is blocked and that, therefore, the RNA molecules of these cells are much more stable. This leads us to think that the lack of regulation of RNA stability has to do with tumorigenesis.

The Leioa geneticist team studies the mechanisms that regulate the stability of the messenger RNAs. Undoubtedly, it will be very important to obtain more information about tumor cells.

When analyzing the messenger RNA, the RNA molecules have information or symbols. Some proteins involved in degradation “see” these symbols and, therefore, degrade the messenger RNA. In fact, the stability of the messenger RNAs must be perfectly regulated to ensure their proper functioning and produce proteins.

Taking into account the molecules, we are studying how these symbols are. This group of researchers has discovered the same small symbol that appears in several proto-oncogenes and growth factors, so it has concluded that there is a general mechanism of degradation of these molecules. It seems that these symbols somehow control the stability of the RNA and that in some tumors this control is lost. It will be interesting, therefore, to know the mechanisms of regulation through these symbols.

We have also asked team leader Ana Zubiaga about the objective of this entire study and told us to study the steps that are taken to move from the Normal Cell to the Tumoral and, above all, to analyze in tumorigenesis of stability of the messenger RNAs. The work of this group of Leioa researchers is also to be able to gradually anticipate cancer.

• Title of the project: Regulation of degradation of RNA messengers of proto-oncogenes and cytokines.
• Objective of the project: Analyze the steps taken in the steps of the normal cell to the tumor. In particular, study in tumorigenesis the role of stability of messenger RNAs.
• Director: Ana Zubiaga
• Working Team: A. A. Aguirre, A. Estonba, M. Murga and O. Fernandez-Capetillo
• Department: Animal Biology and Genetics
• Faculty: Faculty: Faculty of Sciences