New Method Developed to Diagnose Malignant Thyroid Cancer with Survival Period Under One Year

GIST Professor Park Jihwan and Joint Research Team Identify Causative Gene of Undifferentiated Thyroid Cancer

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] Domestic researchers have developed early diagnosis and new treatment methods for undifferentiated thyroid cancer, a fatal rare cancer that progresses rapidly after onset and leads to death within a short period.

The Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) announced on the 5th that Professor Ji-Hwan Park of the Department of Life Sciences, in collaboration with Sichuan University Hospital in China, used the latest single-cell analysis technology to identify genes causing undifferentiated thyroid cancer, finding possibilities for early diagnosis and new treatments.

Single-cell analysis technology is a method that can analyze the expression of all genes within tens of thousands of individual cells in a single experiment. It is recently regarded as one of the most important next-generation technologies in biology and medicine. Undifferentiated thyroid cancer is the most prognostically unfavorable thyroid cancer, accounting for less than 1% of all thyroid cancers, but it is fatal with an average survival period of less than one year.

The research team tracked the progression of thyroid cancer through single-cell analysis and genomic analysis and discovered that CREB3L1 is a key factor inducing undifferentiated thyroid cancer by regulating cancer metastasis and cancer cell metabolism. Thyroid cancer is known as a relatively 'benign cancer' due to its high survival rate, slow progression, and lower recurrence rate compared to other cancers. However, some cases can progress into the difficult-to-treat 'malignant cancer,' undifferentiated thyroid cancer, which can become dangerous if neglected. Until now, sufficient research has not been conducted on the process of progression or the key regulatory genes of undifferentiated thyroid cancer.

The research team discovered a small number of cancer cells specifically appearing in undifferentiated thyroid cancer through single-cell analysis of patient tissues and revealed that these cells originated from cancer cells of differentiated thyroid cancer, which has a better prognosis. This research result contradicts the existing hypothesis that undifferentiated thyroid cancer and differentiated thyroid cancer progress through different pathways. In particular, the key factor inducing progression to these undifferentiated thyroid cancer cells is CREB3L1, which was confirmed to induce undifferentiated thyroid cancer by regulating the expression of other gene groups related to cancer metastasis and metabolism.

Professor Park said, "The CREB3L1 gene was found to play an especially important role in the early stages of undifferentiated thyroid cancer progression," adding, "It is expected to provide new directions for the early diagnosis and development of treatments for undifferentiated thyroid cancer in the future."

The research results were published online on the 28th of last month in the international academic journal 'Science Advances.'

Professor Park Jihwan, GIST.

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