Researchers from Ottawa and Taiwan have demonstrated a new insight into the common existence of chemoresistance in women ovarian cancer and provided a new possibility in its diagnosis and treatment. Their study was published in PNAS.

According to related data, about 2700 Canadian women were diagnosed ovarian cancer in 2014 and 1750 of them died. The ovarian cancer was always diagnosed in the terminal stage, and chemoresistance has already shown up at the time. Chemoresistance is a major hurdle in cancer treatment. Down-regulation of apoptosis pathways in one of the key determinants for chemoresistance.

In this study, researchers have tested the hypothesis that gelsolin (GSN) plays an important role in gynecological chemoressistance. They have provided strong evidence in support of GSN as an important etiologic factor in chemoresistance in vitro and determined the mechanism by which GSN exerts its prosurvival action. The findings also suggest that the application for C-terminal GSN may represent a new therapeutic strategy for chemoresistance gynecologic cancer. The in vitro findings have been validated with a clinical investigation that determines the relationship between GSN expression and cis-Diammine dichloroplatinium (Ⅱ) sensitivity in human ovarian tumor.

These findings agree with the notion that GSN plays a key role in the regulation of gynecological cell fate as reflected in chemoresistance.

Reference:

Chong P S Y, Zhou J, Cheong L L, et al. LEO1 Is Regulated by PRL-3 and Mediates Its Oncogenic Properties in Acute Myelogenous Leukemia[J]. Cancer research, 2014, 74(11): 3043-3053.