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USI institute makes metastasis breakthrough

Researchers from the Institute of Oncology Research at USI are celebrating a breakthrough: A team has developed a new therapy to prevent the formation of metastases with the help of bioinformatics and Artificial Intelligence.

Researchers at USI want to use new technologies to combat the formation of metastases.
Researchers at USI want to use new technologies to combat the formation of metastases. Generic image: ColiN00B/Pixabay

The Molecular Oncology research group from the Institute of Oncology Research (IOR) at Università della Svizzera italiana (USI: University of Italian Switzerland) has developed a new therapy to prevent the formation of metastases. According to a press release issued by the university, this can be considered a genuine breakthrough, as up to now little was known about why and how cancer cells migrate and invade other tissue away from the primary tumor.

What is new about this therapy is that it effectively identifies and kills so-called senescent tumor cells. This is the proportion of tumor cells that are not killed by standard chemotherapy, but rather remain caught between life and death. The fact that they are no longer active initially limits the progression of the tumor. However, after this initially positive phase, senescent cells can once again begin to promote tumor growth, cell migration and metastasis.

Previous chemotherapies have worked by targeting the pro-survival gene BCL-2 of these senescent cells. However, about half of the senescent cells do not depend on this gene, but survive thanks to MCL-1. And it is precisely this other gene that the new treatment method is now honing in on. “Thanks to the use of bioinformatic and machine learning algorithms, we have identified a novel target to eliminate senescent tumor cells and, therefore, prevent metastatic dissemination”, comments team leader Professor Andrea Alimonti in the press release.

The newly developed tool for the identification and description of senescent tumor cells, the Senescence Index Tool (SIT), could, according to the press release, not only help to improve the life of cancer patients, but also become a key starting point in fighting the effects of ageing and age-related diseases.

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