Research Roundup: Ancestry in Cancer Treatment, Nanotech, Genetic Diseases and More

This week, researchers presented findings in how ancestry affects cancer treatment, nanotechnology and genetic diseases. Here's a look at that and more.  

STUDY: Ancestral Background May Affect Response to Cancer Treatment

Summary:

A new study found that a widely used cancer treatment predictor, a guide used to assess which treatments will work best for a specific patient, may not work in patients of African and Asian ancestry. 

The findings of the study suggest that people with these ancestral backgrounds may be receiving expensive treatments that not only aren’t working but could be actively harmful, worsening their prognosis. 

Background:

The technique in question is the practice of using tumor mutational burden (TMB) to identify the best treatment plans. This process involves genetically assessing the levels of these mutations in the specific cancer of the patients, where patients with high levels of TMB are more likely, in theory, to respond better to immune checkpoint inhibitors. 

Methods:

One of the more highly used data sets, for example, gnomAD, is composed of majority European sequences, having 56,885 European sequences and only 9128 African sequences. When exploring this discrepancy further, the researchers found that people with European ancestry were showing TMB levels of 50% higher than they truly had, and in the patients without European ancestry, their TMB levels were reading as twice as large as they were in reality. 

Significance:

If these results are the same in hospitals and clinics, then there is likely a huge discrepancy in actual levels and what tests are showing for these patients, leading to the prescription of treatments that may not be effective for the patients in question. 

 

STUDY: Nanotech Targets Tumors

Summary:

New research in nanotechnology sees the possibility to encase tumor-killing drugs and specifically target cancer without harming the rest of the body. 

Research details:

Researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa have developed a system to deliver these drugs to cancerous cells without letting the healthy tissue become affected by the drugs. The team, led by Yuval Harris, a doctoral student under Dr. Hagit Sason-Bauer, and in collaboration with Assistant Prof. Yosi Shamay, worked together to solve the issue of chemotherapy unintended damage by developing a new delivery system. 

Material details:

In their research, the team found that the new material, called R595, performed better than previous nanotech experiments as it was safer and more efficient, and the particles themselves were more uniform. R595 was made in a chemical reaction that did not require the use of polluting and toxic organic solvents, making it more sustainable to produce, and had a high drug loading efficiency, making it a productive material as well. 

Findings:

Pre-clinical trials have been successful, showing effective treatment of solid tumors that were caused by a typical cancerous mutation, showing promise in the potential treatment of lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, and intestinal cancer.

 

STUDY: Nuclear-embedded Mitochondrial DNA Sequences in Evolution

Summary:

Researchers have found that genetic material from our mitochondria that enters the genome might influence human evolution. 

Research details:

Researchers from the University of Cambridge and the Queen Mary University of London worked together with the goal of following up on previous research that proposed evidence of mitochondrial DNA being passed down the paternal line.

Instead, the researchers found that some of the children in the study exhibited mitochondrial DNA inserts that were not present in either parent. The researchers expanded their pool of subjects and came to the conclusion that mitochondrial insertion is constantly happening and could be a key way that humans evolve over time. 

Findings:

For the most part, these mitochondrial insertions did not cause a phenotypic or other observable difference in the person. There were some cases, however, that seemed to have caused serious illness. These insertions are normally methylated upon insertion into the mainstream of genetic code, and silenced, but when they are left un-methylated, the inserted mitochondrial DNA can cause cancer and other rare genetic diseases. 

Significance:

The exact process through why this happens is yet unknown and requires further investigation. As of now, the theory is that one in 4,000 babies are born with these inserts that actually alter their genetic sequence, and that the initial process might take place in the mother’s egg, before birth.