A study led by Dr. LI Chuanyun from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has revealed how recently evolved human-specific genes\u2014critical for brain development and cognitive abilities\u2014can be hijacked by cancer to drive tumor growth.<\/p>\n
Published in\u00a0Cell Genomics<\/a>\u00a0on July 17, this study bridges evolutionary biology and cancer medicine, uncovering new therapeutic opportunities.<\/p>\n Unlike most genes that evolve through duplication and modification of existing ones,\u00a0de novo\u00a0genes emerge from non-coding DNA, encoding entirely new biological functions. The researchers identified 37 such genes unique to humans and our closest ape relatives based on 120 mammalian genomes, 1,900 human transcriptomes, and 100 million protein spectra. These genes are typically active only in the brain and testes during early development. There they helped shape uniquely human features such as our enlarged brain and improved cognitive capacity over the course of evolution, according to the team\u2019s previous studies.<\/p>\n But cancer hijacks these same genes. By analyzing 5,278 tumor samples spanning 22 cancer types, the researchers discovered that nearly half of these genes become aberrantly activated in cancerous tissues\u2014often through the formation of extrachromosomal circular DNA (ecDNA). Functional assays using CRISPR-Cas9 and siRNA confirmed that 57% of these genes directly promote tumor cell proliferation, and their overexpression correlates with worse patient outcomes.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is evolution\u2019s gamble,\u201d said Dr. LI, senior author of the study. \u201cThe same genetic innovations that make us smart appear to make us vulnerable, but we are turning this evolutionary vulnerability into a clinical opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n The researchers focused on two human-specific genes,\u00a0ELFN1-AS1\u00a0and\u00a0TYMSOS. \u201cThese genes are like dormant bombs,\u201d said Dr. LI. \u201cThey\u2019re completely absent in other species, inactive in healthy adult tissues, but get reactivated only in tumors\u2014making them ideal targets.\u201d<\/p>\n In collaboration with Dr. CHENG Qiang of Peking University, the researchers developed mRNA vaccines that train the immune system to recognize these tumor-specific proteins. In humanized mouse models, the vaccines induced robust anti-tumor immune responses, especially when combined with existing immunotherapies. Patient immune cells also showed antigen\u2011specific immune responses, suggesting a promising new approach.<\/p>\n \u201cThese evolutionarily young genes were invisible to cancer research for two key reasons,\u201d said co-senior author Dr. AN Ni. \u201cFirst, they\u2019re absent in standard model organisms, and second, genomic databases misannotated them as non-coding or pseudogenes. Our work finally recognizes them as both drivers of human cognition and promising new therapeutic targets\u2014turning millions of years of evolution into potential clinical solutions within years.\u201d<\/p>\n A version of this article was originally posted at EurekAlert<\/a> and is reposted here with permission. Any reposting should credit both the GLP and original article. The study was published in Cell Genomics<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A study led by Dr. LI Chuanyun from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[916,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-35782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-genetics","tag-genetics","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}