Basocellular carcinoma, red lesion on the face.
Basocellular carcinoma, “by far the most frequent skin cancer in humans”, can be locked through “Short -term administration of a survivine inhibitor ”, a gene that can be given through a cream.
An international team of scientists, collided by a researcher at the Champalimaud Foundation and composed of Portuguese researchers, discovered mechanisms of initiation and progression of the most common skin cancer in humans, the basocellular carcinomainformed the Portuguese institution this Monday.
The study, whose results were in the scientific journal Cell Discovery, “points out potential therapies to prevent the development of basal cell carcinoma,” adds a statement from the foundation.
“Basocellular carcinoma is by far the most frequent skin cancer in humans, ”says Adriana Sánchez-Danésmain researcher at the Cancer Biology Laboratory and Stem Cells of the Champalimaud Foundation, quoted in the statement.
Although it rarely develops metastases and is usually treated with surgery, this tumor “may, in some cases, become metastatic or locally very aggressive”. Sánchez-Danés points out that it is therefore “so important to understand the different phases and steps that lead to formation, as well as the progression of this disease.”
Survivine “caught the eye.” Can be used as cream
Comparing the active genes in the stem and progenitors of mouse skin with that cancer, scientists were able to identify various genes whose expression was increased, including the Survivinaalso known as BIRC5which “caught their attention”.
The survivine gene is over-exposed in many human cancers, such as lung, pancreas and breast, showing the study on basocellular carcinoma that “is necessary not only for pre-initiation and formation of injury -Neoplastic, but also for your conversion into invasive cancer, ”says Sánchez-Danés.
According to the researcher, “this is the first time that its role in tumor initiation is described” and “moreover, the discovery that survivine is necessary for the conversion of preneoplastic lesions into invasive tumors is relevant, once which can be explored therapeutically ”.
The data obtained by scientists “show that the Short-term administration of a survivin inhibitor leads to decreased and elimination of pre-neoplastic lesions and prevents the progression of basocellular carcinoma”, Indicates the study.
Several survivine inhibitors have been developed and are currently being tested in clinical trials. However, the survivine inhibitor in this study was something toxic for animalswhich led researchers to use in an alternative “an inhibitor of a protein called Sck1 (“Serum and glucocorticoid-regulated kinase 1), which also prevented pre-neoplastic lesions from evolving to a tumor.”
Those responsible for the study admit that both strategies can be used in humans, using survivine inhibitors as creme to be applied to the skin, which reduces side effects.
“Our main result is that Survivin can help us in the future to avoid the generation of invasive basal cell carcinomas,” says Sánchez-Danés, adding that for himself “the most interesting part” of the study “was to find that Survivin It can also induce cells that are resistant to cancer formation to become competent in this regard. ” He was “an exciting discovery”He said.
