Researchers discover DNA copy number alterations lead to changes in RNA circuits that impact melanoma metastasis

Source: Science Daily, July 2022

Changes in DNA can lead to the development and progression of cancer. DNA serves as a template for an intermediary molecule called RNA that, in turn, codes for proteins that control all cellular processes. Most cancer research and available anticancer drugs focus on the impact of DNA and protein alterations that contribute to cancer; however, it is now understood that RNA molecules can also both positively and negatively impact the development of cancer. In a new article published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, Moffitt Cancer Center researchers describe how RNA molecules promote the development of melanoma metastasis by impacting anti-tumor microRNA.

MicroRNA (miRNA) molecules are small segments of nonprotein coding RNA that can silence other protein-coding RNA molecules and regulate the production of proteins. When the activity of miRNA molecules is perturbed, diseases such as cancer can develop. Recently, it has been shown that this regulation also works in the opposite direction, where protein coding RNAs act as “sponges" to bind to miRNA molecules and block their function. RNAs affecting the function of miRNAs are called competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) and are thought to play an important role in cancer development independent of their protein-coding activity.

The existence of ceRNA has been known since approximately 2010, but its impact on cancer development is not well understood. Since DNA copy number alterations impact cancer, Moffitt researchers wanted to determine whether these DNA alterations can drive cancer development through ceRNAs.

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