The Path to Conquering 'Intractable Cancer' That Was Resistant Even to Chemotherapy Has Opened

GIST, Discovery of Biomarker CD45 and Development of Targeted Therapy Methods

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] A Korean research team has developed a method to identify cancer cells that are resistant to chemotherapy and radiation therapy and reduce their resistance to improve treatment. This is considered a breakthrough in conquering intractable cancers.

The research team led by Professor Nam Jung-seok of the Department of Life Sciences at Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) announced on the 6th that they discovered the chemotherapy resistance biomarker CD45 through genomic profiling of cancer tissues from colorectal cancer patients.

Until now, CD45 was known as an immune cell marker, and little was known about its expression and function within cancer cells. The team accidentally found that CD45 expression was high in chemotherapy-resistant colorectal cancer tissues. Using a dual-labeling technique with epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) and a new analysis method called single-cell genomic profiling, they identified the presence of cancer cells expressing CD45.

Furthermore, the team confirmed that CD45-expressing cancer cells present in patient tumor tissues survive chemotherapy and radiation therapy, inducing cancer cell proliferation and recurrence. Clinical studies also revealed a correlation that higher CD45 expression in cancer cells is associated with poorer prognosis for chemoradiotherapy.

The research team described their findings as a "serendipity" ? a significant discovery made by chance. This is meaningful as it provides experimental evidence for treating intractable cancers.

Despite advances in cancer treatment, many patients still suffer from metastasis or recurrence after chemotherapy. Although chemotherapy reduces tumor size and appears effective, a small number of cancer stem cells resist the treatment and cause relapse. Reducing tumor size through chemotherapy or radiation before surgery increases the chance of a cure, but since it is not effective for all patients, the importance of developing biomarkers to predict treatment response has been growing. The discovery of the biomarker CD45 now enables prediction of treatment response to preoperative chemoradiotherapy.

The team revealed that cancer cells expressing CD45 possess self-renewal ability, exhibiting characteristics of cancer stem cells that continuously regenerate tumor tissue. They also identified a therapeutic strategy to overcome intractable cancers by targeting CD45. Using a CD45 inhibitor developed as an immunotherapeutic drug, CD45-targeted therapy suppresses the chemotherapy resistance of cancer stem cells and reduces the likelihood of cancer recurrence after treatment.

Professor Nam explained, “The significance of this study lies in revealing a new role of CD45 in inducing chemotherapy resistance and opening the possibility of a new therapeutic strategy to overcome intractable cancers.”

The research results were published online on the 11th of last month in ‘Theranostics,’ a top 6.071% medical journal.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.