- 건국대학교

	KU Research Team Finds Clue for the Treatment of Drug-resistant Leukemia
	관리자		1231		2014.03.25

On April 3, 2013, Konkuk University (KU) announced that Prof. Dong-Eun Kim's research team (Biotechnology program, Division of Specialized Studies, College of Biological Science and Biotechnology, KU), has developed a DNA molecular scissor that cleaves pathogenic RNA which causes leukemia (hereafter 'DNAzyme'). The DNAzyme selectively kills chronic myeloid leukemia cells that are resistant to Gleevec, an anticancer medicine. Thus, it is expected to act as a clue to the development of new biomedicine that can be administered along with Gleevec.
This research, with Prof. Kim, doctoral candidate Ms. Soojin Yoon, and master's student Ms. Jieun Kim as first authors, has been funded by grants from the National Research Foundation of Korea and was published in Leukemia, a renowned journal in hematology and oncology and a sister publication of Nature.
* Title of Article: "Cleavage of BCR-ABL transcripts at the T315I point mutation by DNAzyme promotes apoptotic cell death in imatinib-resistant BCR-ABL leukemic cells"
In order to overcome the resistance of leukemic cells to anticancer medicine, Gleevec derivatives and other kinase inhibitors have been developed. Despite such attempt, certain leukemic cells with point mutations still show resistance towards anticancer drugs. In particular, methods to overcome the resistance caused by a point mutation such as the "T314I" have not been discovered yet. Therefore, ways to effectively get rid of the protein resistant to anticancer drugs (i.e., tyrosine kinase) that point mutations produce have been an unsolved issue. Dr. Kim's research team designed a DNA molecular scissor which preferentially binds to and cuts off the point mutation that makes the Gleevec-resistant mutant tyrosine kinase.
As a result of inserting the DNAzyme along with Gleevec into the leukemia cell which is resistant to Gleevec, it was confirmed that the treatment brought the leukemic cells to apoptotic cell death with an acquired sensitivity to the anticancer drug. The research team plans to further explore the possibility for new biomedicine through this preliminary research study.
 
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Posted by Eunjin Cho

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