Cancer Research Suggestions – Part-3

One of the important strategies in the treatment of cancer is inhibition of DNA methylation that is frequently found in cancer cells.

[sociallocker]Zebularine (Zeb) is a novel DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) inhibitor, i.e. it inhibits DNA methylation. Researchers are of opinion that targeting GRP78/p62 and stemness by Zeb could be a potential therapeutic strategy to treat colorectal cancer (CRC).

p53 is a tumor suppressor protein that stimulates endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress but the mechanism behind this stress needs further research.

Zeb is found to induce ER stress and whether PKR (protein kinase) is a mediator of Zeb-induced ER stress needs further research.

“Whether Zeb also exerts RNA-dependent effect is still unclear. Further investigation of Zeb effect may accelerate its clinical use,” Researchers wrote.

“Future work can be conducted to put this drug or combination with other agents into practice as a clinical therapeutic agent for CRC patients,” Researchers wrote.

Regarding autophagy, researchers wrote that “How cell fate is determined after induction of autophagy is currently unclear.”

Reference:

Pei-Ming Yang et al. (2013). Zebularine inhibits tumorigenesis and stemness of colorectal cancer via p53-dependent endoplasmic reticulum stress Scientific Reports DOI: 10.1038/srep03219
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