Scientists from the Biosanitary Research Institute of Granada reveal one of the main molecular causes involved in the development of lung cancer

Researchers from the Biosanitary Research Institute of Granada (ibs.GRANADA), from the University of Granada, and the Pfizer-University of Granada-Junta de Andalucía Center for Genomics and Oncology Research (GENYO) have released the results of a study to advancing the understanding of lung cancer, revealing mutations and epigenetic alterations involved in tumor growth in patients with lung cancer. Specifically, these researchers from Granada have found elements of a protein complex that can stop tumors, called SWI/SNF, which accumulates mutations in more than 40% of lung cancer tumors, in addition to other epigenetic alterations that prevent cells from manufacture these elements of the SWI/SNF complex.

In Spain it is estimated that around thirty thousand people will be diagnosed with lung cancer this year. On the other hand, this year it is estimated that 23.000 patients will die as a result of lung cancer. These data place lung cancer as the cause of the highest number of cancer deaths.

This emerging team of researchers from ibs.GRANADA has found that tumors that present alterations in this SWI/SNF protein complex have a greater number of genetic mutations, which suggests that this complex may play an important role in maintaining the integrity of the genome, which would help stop tumor development.

"This SWI/SNF protein complex protects cells from uncontrolled growth, so tumors accumulate alterations in it, so that it stops working and can bypass the restrictions they have on growth" comments Pedro Pablo Medina Vico , director of the work, and who together with Marta Cuadros leads the group "Ae22-Cancer Genetics, Biomarkers and Experimental Therapies" of ibs.GRANADA.

In addition, researchers have observed that patients with mutations in genes of the SWI/SNF complex have a worse survival when compared to patients who do not have them. This observation, which has direct clinical implications, once again points to the relevance of the activity of this protein complex in slowing down the development of lung cancer.

This research, financed mainly by funds provided by the foundation of the Spanish Association against Cancer and by the Ministry of Health and Consumption of the Junta de Andalucía, has had as main authors Paola Peinado, Álvaro Andrades, Marta Cuadros and María Isabel Rodríguez.

About the research group

The main objective of the research group "Cancer Genetics, Biomarkers and Experimental Therapies" of ibs.GRANADA is to identify new biomarkers to improve the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of cancer patients, through the study of new mechanisms of the gene regulation, which have been shown to be important for tumor development, and which are currently at the frontier of knowledge; among which are chromatin remodeling complexes and non-coding RNAs. This research group from Granada intends to transfer molecular findings to daily clinical practice, through state-of-the-art technologies, working with patient samples, public repositories of genomic data, cell lines and in vivo pre-clinical models to validate the role of new biomarkers in cancer.

More information about the group at https://www.ibsgranada.es/grupos-de-investigacion/ae22-genetica-del-cancer-biomarcadores-y-terapias-experimentales/