• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Monday, October 13, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News

Enzyme could protect against type of colorectal cancer by suppressing tumors, study finds

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
January 3, 2017
in Science News
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

ATLANTA–An enzyme that plays an active role in inflammation could be a natural way to suppress tumors and ulcers in the colon that are found in colitis associated cancer (CAC), a type of colorectal cancer that is driven by chronic inflammation, according to a new study.

Researchers at Georgia State University and Stony Brook University have identified the tumor suppressor role of matrix-metalloproteinase (MMP9), which belongs to a family of enzymes called proteinases and serves as an essential regulator of extracellular matrix components via a novel mechanistic pathway. The findings are reported in the journal Oncotarget.

"In the setting of chronic inflammation, MMP9 expression functions as a silver lining by suppressing the advancement of the tumor microenvironment in CAC," said Dr. Pallavi Garg, assistant professor in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State.

Inflammation can be a beneficial response to tissue damage or pathogens, but if unregulated it can become chronic inflammation and induce malignant cells in tissue that lead to cancer. Inflammatory bowel disease, which includes ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, involves inflammation of all or part of the digestive tract. Patients with chronically active ulcerative colitis have a significantly higher risk (up to 50 percent depending on the group of subjects) of developing CAC, a subtype of colorectal cancer. The risk of CAC increases with the duration of the disease and the severity of inflammation.

The protein expression and activity of MMP9 is undetectable in most healthy adult tissues, including the colon and intestine, but it is highly expressed in a variety of inflammatory states. Previous studies have shown that MMP9 derived from epithelial cells plays a protective role in the development of CAC. Epithelial cells represent the lining of the gastrointestinal tract along the lumen, which is the inside space of a tubular structure. Almost 80 percent of cancers have epithelial cell origin. This study aimed to determine whether epithelial-derived MMP9 has a defensive role of tumor suppressor in CAC and the underlying molecular mechanism.

Researchers used transgenic mice that expressed MMP9 in the colonic epithelium for in vivo experiments. In vitro experiments used human colon carcinoma cells with and without MMP9 and mouse embryonic fibroblasts, which are connective tissue cells that make the extracellular matrix and collagen and play an important role in tissue repair.

The researchers found mice that expressed MMP9 in the epithelium exhibited fewer tumors and increased apoptosis, or programmed cell death that gets rid of cells that are no longer needed or are a threat to the organism. Human colon carcinoma cells that overexpressed MMP9 showed decreased cell proliferation, less DNA damage and cell cycle arrest in the S-phase to prevent cell proliferation.

In addition, they found that epithelial-derived MMP9 suppresses tumors in CAC by activating the MMP9-Notch1-ARF-p53 axis pathway, which increases apoptosis, initiates cell cycle arrest and keeps a check on DNA damage.

###

Co-authors of the study include Lewins Walter, Adani Pujada, Noopur Bhatnagar and Hamed Laroui of Georgia State and Agnieszka Bialkowska and Vincent Yang of Stony Brook.

The study is funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health and the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America.

Media Contact

LaTina Emerson
[email protected]
404-413-1353
@GSU_News

http://www.gsu.edu

############

Story Source: Materials provided by Scienmag

Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

blank

Innovative Strategy to Weaken Cancer Cells Promises to Boost Prostate Cancer Treatment

October 13, 2025

Healthcare Costs in Chinese Adults with CKD and Diabetes

October 13, 2025

Scientists Unveil Novel Method to Manipulate Mechanical Vibrations in Metamaterials

October 13, 2025

Transformers Revolutionize Genome Language Model Breakthroughs

October 13, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • Sperm MicroRNAs: Crucial Mediators of Paternal Exercise Capacity Transmission

    1233 shares
    Share 492 Tweet 308
  • New Study Reveals the Science Behind Exercise and Weight Loss

    104 shares
    Share 42 Tweet 26
  • New Study Indicates Children’s Risk of Long COVID Could Double Following a Second Infection – The Lancet Infectious Diseases

    101 shares
    Share 40 Tweet 25
  • Revolutionizing Optimization: Deep Learning for Complex Systems

    91 shares
    Share 36 Tweet 23

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Innovative Strategy to Weaken Cancer Cells Promises to Boost Prostate Cancer Treatment

Healthcare Costs in Chinese Adults with CKD and Diabetes

Scientists Unveil Novel Method to Manipulate Mechanical Vibrations in Metamaterials

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 64 other subscribers
  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.