Husband and wife Simon Conn and Vanessa Conn’s team at the Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer has been researching the role of circular RNAs in DNA damage and forming cancer genes. Credit: Flinders Foundation
Key points:
- Researchers have linked specific circular RNAs to the development of leukemia.
- The discovery was made by comparing blood tests of neonatal babies who developed cancer, and those who did not.
- The findings open the door to use the molecules as therapeutic targets and markers of disease at a very early stage.
Australian cancer researchers have made an important new connection between a person’s cancer risk and the functions of circular RNAs, a recently discovered family of genetic fragments present within our cells.
According to the new study, published in Cancer Cell, specific circular RNAs within many humans can stick to the DNA in cells and cause DNA mutations that result in cancer.
“While environmental and genetic factors have long been believed the major contributors to cancer, this revolutionary finding—which we call ‘ER3D’ (from ‘endogenous RNA directed DNA damage’)—ushers in an entirely new area of medical and molecular biology research,” said Flinders University professor Simon Conn. “This is the first example of a genetic molecule present within many of us which has the capacity to mutate our very own DNA and drive cancer from inside.”
For the study, Conn and his team, including lead author Vanessa Conn, compared neonatal blood tests of babies who went on to develop acute leukemia as infants with children without any blood disorders. The results showed one specific circular RNA was present at much higher levels at birth, prior to onset of the symptoms of leukemia.
Circular RNAs can bind to DNA at many different locations across a range of cells. By binding to the DNA at specific sites, these circular RNAs cause a number of changes, culminating in the breakage of the DNA, which the cell must repair in order to survive. However, the repair is not always perfect and can result in mutations.
Vanessa Conn says multiple circular RNAs appear to act in partnership causing breaks at multiple sites in the DNA.
“This process, called chromosomal translocation, is a major problem for the cell as it results in gene fusions which can actually convert the cell from a normal cell into a cancerous cell,” she says. “This was demonstrated in two different cell types and it was found to drive the rapid onset of aggressive leukemia.”
The team says they will continue to investigate circular RNAs’ role in cancer and other diseases.