Rockford researchers investigate obesity gene and lung cancer connection
Rockford researchers investigate obesity gene and lung cancer connection
A gene recognized as a predictor of obesity may also be a predictor of how fast lung cancer will grow and how well drugs for treating non-small cell lung cancer will work, according to UICOMR researchers in the lab of Neelu Puri, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and a member of the University of Illinois Cancer Center.
The research study “The Role of Fat Mass and Obesity-Associated (FTO) Gene in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Tumorigenicity and EGFR Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Resistance” was recently published in the journal Biomedicines.
In this study, the researchers looked at cell lines that were resistant to non-small cell lung cancer as well as tumors from Rockford-area patients in various stages of the disease to investigate the relationship between the fat mass and obesity-associated gene (FTO) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Their research found that FTO was highly expressed in NSCLC-resistant cell lines, and that reducing FTO expression led to decreased cell viability and migration. When examining patient tumors, the researchers also found that FTO was overexpressed in late-stage NSCLC tumor tissues compared to early-stage tumors, and that FTO was found to be highly expressed in patients who smoked compared to non-smokers.
The researchers found that patients with tumors exhibiting low FTO expression lived 14 months longer than those with tumors showing high FTO expression.
Overall, this research suggests that FTO may promote drug resistance and tumor development in NSCLC patients, and that combining first-line cancer drugs with FTO inhibitors may be more effective in treating these patients. Their findings also introduce FTO as a potential prognostic marker and warrant further studies to explore the role of FTO in promoting tumor growth.
The research team included former MBT student Aayush Rastogi, former medical student Rong Qiu, MBT student Rachel Campoli, Summer Science volunteer Usama Altayeh, former research assistant Sarai Arriaga, Medical College of Wisconsin medical student Muhammad J Khan, MBT student Subaranjana Saravanaguru Vasanthi, and Robert Hillwig, a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Health Sciences Education.