An ointment that shrinks oral tumors!

Modern medicine offers "peel-and-stick" solutions like nicotine or contraceptive patches that you can stick directly on your skin without the need to see a doctor for injections or surgery

In a study to be published in the journal Molecular Therapeutic Oncology, researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) reveal that oral cancer cells were treated with miR-634, a microRNA that targets tumor-promoting factors.

More than 90 percent of oral cancers are a type of cancer called oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC)

Phuong Xuan Tran, lead author of the study, said: "We recently found that miR-634 counteracts some cytoprotective processes, such as anti-apoptotic signaling and antioxidant clearance, which are activated in cisplatin-resistant cancer cells

To test whether miR-634 helps increase tumor sensitivity to cisplatin, the researchers treated two different OSCC cell lines with miR-634 and cisplatin and observed how many cells survived

"The results were very clear," said Johji Inazawa, senior author of the study

To confirm these results, the researchers then tested the treatment combination in mice with experimental tumors

"Our findings suggest that miR-634-mediated inhibition of tumor-promoting factors can effectively increase the sensitivity of OSCC to existing chemotherapy regimens such as cisplatin," Tran said

In conclusion, the results of this study suggest that miR-634 ointment may help improve the chemotherapy effect in patients with advanced OSCC

article title

Potential for reversing miR-634-mediated cytoprotective processes to improve efficacy of chemotherapy against oral squamous cell carcinoma