Japan finds new ideas for the treatment of adult T-cell leukemia

A research team at the University of Tokyo in Japan reported on a new issue of the American academic journal Cancer Cell that its members discovered a new method of killing cancer cells of “adult T-cell leukemia” and provided new ideas for the treatment of this disease.

Adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) is a type of malignant cloned proliferative disease of the lymphoid system that is directly related to ATL virus type I infection and is considered to be extremely difficult to treat.

Professor Watanabe Watanabe and others of the University of Tokyo found that the number of miR-31, a small RNA in ATL leukemia patients, drastically decreased to less than one-hundred and one-hundredth of the normal level and was almost impossible to detect. . If this small RNA is added to the cancer cells, it can kill the cancer cells.

Small RNA is a small molecule in the cell and has the function of regulating the type and amount of intracellular proteins. According to this study, it is precisely because of the reduction of miR-31 that proteins that promote the proliferation of cancer cells are active. The team also found that the small RNA miR-31 had little adverse effect on normal human cells.

Japan is a high-risk area for ATL leukemia. About 1.08 million people are infected, and about 1,100 people die each year. Watanabe Toshiki said that if a certain drug can be developed so that microRNA "miR-31" can accurately reach the cancer cells of ATL leukemia patients, it can bring hope for the treatment of this difficult disease.