A domestic research team has developed Revert, a reprogramming treatment that restores cancer cells to a near-normal state. (iClickArt) (Unauthorized reproduction and redistribution of the above image is prohibited under copyright law.)
A domestic research team in a world first has created a molecular revert switch that restores cancer cells to a near-normal state.
The National Cancer Center on Sept. 9 said the team led by Shin Dongkwan, a professor of cancer biomedical science at the center, and Cho Kwang-Hyun, a professor of bio and brain engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, developed Revert, a treatment that reprograms cancer cells.
Among genes regulating cell growth and division, YY1 and MYC were found to act like "key switches" for cancer cell transformation. The team found that inhibiting them greatly raised the prospect of cancer cells regaining their normal properties.
Conventional chemotherapy and radiation therapy focus on killing cancer cells, but Revert restores them to a near-normal state through genetic manipulation.
Professor Shin said, "If existing cancer treatment is like a hammer that destroys the machine that is a cancer cell, the new treatment is like a precision tool that understands the machine's circuitry, finds the faulty switch and turns the machine back on."
hjkoh@korea.kr