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Researchers at Southern Medical University have discovered a molecule that can help clinicians predict survival time of people afflicted with gastric cancer, a significant health problem in developing countries which is typically associated with late-stage diagnosis and high mortality. The findings appeared in The American Journal of Pathology.
Patients whose primary gastric cancer lesions express high levels of microRNA 506 have significantly longer survival times compared to patients with low miR-506 expression, the findings showed. In addition, miR-506 suppresses tumor growth, blood vessel formation, and metastasis or cancer spread, the study noted.
The study involved 84 patients who had undergone cancer surgery. When samples were divided into groups with miR-506 levels above and below the mean, survival was found to be significantly longer in patients with high miR-506 expression. The investigators next examined miR-506 expression in cells from seven gastric cancer cell lines. They found that gastric cancer cells had lower levels of miR-506 than normal stomach tissue.
"Our study suggests that miR-506 acts as a tumor suppressor in gastric cancer," explained lead investigator Xin Song from Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, China.
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