MicroRNA helps cancer evade immune system

A study by Salk Professor Juan Carlos Izpiusa Belmonte, former Salk Research Associate Min-Zu (Michael) Wu and collaborators shows one method by which fast-growing tumors evade anti-tumor immunity. The team uncovered two gene-regulating molecules that alter cell-signaling within tumor cells to survive and subvert the body’s normal immune response, according to a September 18, 2017 paper in Nature Cell Biology. These molecules, termed “microRNAs,” regulate genes by silencing RNA and have increasingly been implicated in tumor survival and progression. The discovery could one day point to a new target for treatment in various types of cancer.