South Korean researchers have identified the mechanism by which smoking and drinking promote the proliferation of oral cancer.
The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) disclosed that a team led by Professor Kim Jun from the Graduate School of Medical Science has uncovered a new mechanism by which these common carcinogens contribute to the onset and proliferation of oral cancer.
This groundbreaking research has shown that smoking and drinking cause oral cancer proliferation not just through direct DNA damage but also by inducing oxidative stress, which leads to the transcriptional regulation or increased expression of oncogenes, offering fresh insights for the creation of new anticancer treatments.
The study focused on the TM4SF19 protein, which was highly expressed in patients with oral cancer. Experiments using oral cancer cell lines demonstrated that oxidative stress caused by smoking and drinking prompts this protein to polymerize, forming a dimer. This polymerization temporarily boosts the expression of the YAP oncogene.
TM4SF19 is a protein not expressed well in most normal tissues, and its function is not yet known.
Inhibiting TM4SF19 reduced the expression of the oncogene (YAP), which reduced the proliferation and metastatic ability of cancer cells.
Professor Kim Jun highlighted the significance of these findings, noting that the study not only reveals a novel molecular mechanism by which smoking and drinking can lead to cancer development but also opens new avenues for oral cancer research and identifies a potential target for drug development.
This research, featuring Shin Eun Bi as the first author, was supported by the Mid-Career Researcher Support Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea and has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
memory4444444@news1.kr