Nat Commun: CRISPR technology reveals the mechanism of cancer spread

A recent study by scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute has shown that genes previously unrelated to cancer play a key role in the spread of certain cancers to the lungs.

The study was recently published in the journal Communication Biology, and the study also confirmed that the overexpression of LRRN4CL is related to the metastasis of colon cancer, breast cancer and bladder cancer to the lung.

Several factors make LRRN4CL an attractive drug target.

Metastasis refers to the spread of cancer from one organ to other parts of the body through the blood and lymphatic system.

Metastasis makes cancer more difficult to treat and is associated with a poorer prognosis for patients.

They performed CRISPR activation (CRISPRa) screening on genes encoding cell surface proteins, increasing the expression levels of the genes one by one, and further observing their effects.

The research team found that overexpression of the gene LRRN4CL increased the ability of mouse and human melanoma cells to metastasize to the lungs.

"Metastasis is a complex phenomenon.

The researchers also checked the database of gene expression in the patient is tumor and found that melanoma with higher LRRN4CL expression was associated with a poorer prognosis.

"Our results show that reducing the expression of the LRRN4CL gene can help prevent metastasis to the lungs, which has made it a potential drug target.

Information source: CRISPR study identifies gene that plays key role in metastasis of cancers to the lungs

Original source: Louise van der Weyden, Victoria Harle, Gemma Turner et al.