Potential therapeutic target for blood cancer discovered

Genome organization plays a crucial role in transcription

The findings, published in the journal Genes and Development, were led by researchers at the Centre for Genome Regulation (CRG) and the National Centre Análisis Genómico (CNAG-CRG) in Barcelona and the European Institute of Oncology in Milan

"APL is a lethal subtype of leukemia driven by a chromosomal translocation between promyelocytic leukemia (PML) and the retinoic acid receptor alpha (RARα) gene," the researchers wrote

APL occurs because of a chromosomal translocation, where one chromosome breaks and a part of it reattaches to another chromosome

One of the genes most affected by these changes in the early stages is KLF4, which encodes a protein that binds to DNA to control the rate at which genetic information is transcribed, also known as a transcription factor

"In acute promyelocytic leukemia, KLF4 overexpression acts as a tumor suppressor

The discovery paves the way for the development of drugs that boost the expression of this gene in the early stages of cancer development, blocking it before the disease becomes unmanageable