Study reveals how ecDNA fragments drive gene amplification to generate drug resistance in cancer
Researchers led by Ludwig San Diego Member Don Cleveland and Peter Campbell of the Sanger Center have solved the mystery of how free-floating circular DNA fragments, which are almost exclusively found in cancer cells, drive gene amplification to generate drug resistance in cancer.
The research, published on December 23 in the journal
Nature, provides new insights into how cancers evolve to adapt to changing environments and suggests ways to reduce drug resistance by combining therapies.
Drug resistance is the most problematic part of cancer therapy. If not for drug resistance, many cancer patients would survive.
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IMAGE: In this scanning electron micrograph of inside the nucleus of a cancer cell, chromosomes are indicated by blue arrows and circular extra-chromosomal DNA are indicated by orange arrows. view more
Credit: Image courtesy of Paul Mischel, UC San Diego
Cancer is one of the world s greatest health afflictions because, unlike some diseases, it is a moving target, constantly evolving to evade and resist treatment.
In a paper published in the December 23, 2020 online issue of
Nature, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and the UC San Diego branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, with colleagues in New York and the United Kingdom, describe how a phenomenon known as chromothripsis breaks up chromosomes, which then reassemble in ways that ultimately promote cancer cell growth.
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Healthcare startups that had a breakout year in 2020 are poised to have an even better 2021, investors told Business Insider.
Startups, especially those focused on virtual care benefitted from being in the right place at the right time amid the global pandemic.
Business Insider interviewed dozens of venture capitalists and other private investors to learn which startups are poised to take off in 2021.
Looking back, 2020 will likely mark a sea change for healthcare startups.
Many startups saw a pandemic-sized opportunity and took advantage of new technology and newly agile hospitals and clinics to break into the notoriously difficult field.