KAIST team discovers molecular switch to reverse cancer cells
rael-science
The Raelian Movement
Get Rael-Science on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/raelscience
Get Rael-Science on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rael_science
KAIST team discovers molecular switch to reverse cancer cells
Professor Kwang-Hyun Cho's research team has recently been highlighted for their work on developing an original technology for cancer reversal treatment that does not kill cancer cells but only changes their characteristics to reverse them to a state similar to normal cells. This time, they have succeeded in revealing for the first time that a molecular switch that can induce cancer reversal at the moment when normal cells change into cancer cells is hidden in the genetic network.
KAIST (President Kwang-Hyung Lee) announced on the 5th of February that Professor Kwang-Hyun Cho's research team of the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering has succeeded in developing a fundamental technology to capture the critical transition phenomenon at the moment when normal cells change into cancer cells and analyze it to discover a molecular switch that can revert cancer cells back into normal cells.
A critical transition is a phenomenon in which a sudden change in state occurs at a specific point in time, like water changing into steam at 100℃. This critical transition phenomenon also occurs in the process in which normal cells change into cancer cells at a specific point in time due to the accumulation of genetic and epigenetic changes.
The research team discovered that normal cells can enter an unstable critical transition state where normal cells and cancer cells coexist just before they change into cancer cells during tumorigenesis, the production or development of tumors, and analyzed this critical transition state using a systems biology method to develop a cancer reversal molecular switch identification technology that can reverse the cancerization process. They then applied this to colon cancer cells and confirmed through molecular cell experiments that cancer cells can recover the characteristics of normal cells.
This is an original technology that automatically infers a computer model of the genetic network that controls the critical transition of cancer development from single-cell RNA sequencing data, and systematically finds molecular switches for cancer reversion by simulation analysis. It is expected that this technology will be applied to the development of reversion therapies for other cancers in the future.
He
continued, "In particular, this study has revealed in
detail, at the genetic network level, what changes occur
within cells behind the process of cancer development, which
has been considered a mystery until now." He emphasized,
"This is the first study to reveal that an important clue
that can revert the fate of tumorigenesis is hidden at this
very critical moment of change."
The results of this study, conducted by KAIST Dr. Dongkwan
Shin (currently at the National Cancer Center), Dr.
Jeong-Ryeol Gong, and doctoral student Seoyoon D. Jeong
jointly with a research team at Seoul National University
that provided the organoids (in vitro cultured tissues) from
colon cancer patient, were published as an online paper in
the international journal 'Advanced Science' published by
Wiley on January 22nd.
This study was conducted with the support of the National
Research Foundation of Korea under the Ministry of Science
and ICT through the Mid-Career Researcher Program and Basic
Research Laboratory Program and the Disease-Centered
Translational Research Project of the Korea Health Industry
Development Institute (KHIDI) of the Ministry of Health and
Welfare.
Shin, D., et al. (2025). Attractor Landscape Analysis Reveals a Reversion Switch in the Transition of Colorectal Tumorigenesis. Advanced Science. doi.org/10.1002/advs.202412503.