“Significant breakthrough”: Bernese researchers discover a weakness in cancer

Researchers from Bern have identified a previously unknown weakness in prostate cancer cells. According to researchers, this is a “game changer” in the development of cancer therapies.

The scientists have already registered the corresponding patent, the University of Bern announced on Thursday. New therapies against prostate cancer are therefore urgently needed. According to international estimates, one in six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime and more than 375,000 patients will die from it worldwide. The resistance of the tumors to the usual therapies plays an important role.

To find new therapeutic approaches, the researchers investigated the so-called splicesome. A molecular machine in our cells that translates the building instructions for proteins into a readable form.

The so-called major splicesome is used for most genes. However, for a few genes, this process is carried out by the small splicesome. “Nevertheless, the minor spliceosome is of enormous importance because it mainly processes genes that play a crucial role in cell growth. And it is precisely this cell growth that gets out of hand in cancer,” study author Anke Augspach explained in the statement.

During the studies, the researchers found that a specific part of the small splicesosome is significantly elevated in advanced prostate cancer. This led researchers to suspect that cancer cells use this component to activate the small splicesosome and thus stimulate uncontrolled cell growth.

They were able to confirm the assumptions in lab experiments with cell cultures. They were also able to show that inhibition of the specific component led to a greater reduction in prostate cancer growth than current standard therapies. This is a major breakthrough in the fight against cancer, writes the University of Bern.

The research results were published Thursday in the journal Molecular Cell. In addition to the University of Bern, the Inselspital, the University Hospital of Bern and the University of Connecticut (USA) were also involved. (aeg/sda)