WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - In a recent trio of research papers published in Nature, scientists explored the prevalence and prognostic impact of the small DNA circles, called ecDNA or extrachromosomal DNA, paving way for a potential cancer treatment therapy.
The papers, published by Stanford Medicine researchers and their international collaborators, cast light upon how ecDNA encourages cancer to grow.
'It's an important discovery because this affects a lot of people around the world,' said Paul Mischel, a professor of pathology at Stanford University. 'These are the patients who are really suffering because they are not responding to our current therapies and their tumours are so aggressive.'
Most genes have 23 pairs of chromosomes. Sometimes fragments break off the chromosomes and form ecDNA, which are usually considered as cancer-associated genes known as oncogenes.
The researchers analyzed the prevalence of ecDNA in nearly 15,000 cancer patients and 39 tumor types. They found that 17.1 percent of tumors contained ecDNA, which was commonly present in different forms in breast, brain and lung cancer.
'Many of the most aggressive cancers depend on ecDNA for survival, and as these cancers advance, ecDNA drives their resistance to treatment, leaving patients with few options. By targeting ecDNA, we could cut the lifeline of these relentless tumours, turning a terrible prognosis into a treatable one,' David Scott, the director of Cancer Grand Challenges at Cancer Research UK.
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