A team of National Cancer Center (NCC) researchers has identified a novel microRNA regulatory protein critical to the development and progression of malignant brain tumors that remain incurable.

The team, led by Professors Kim Jong-heon and Park Jong-bae at the hospital, identified the precise mechanism. This mechanism accelerates microRNA-7 degradation in brain tumor stem cells, thereby activating brain tumor core EGFR-STAT3 signaling.

The team also explored novel inhibitors of transcriptional or post-transcriptional regulatory signaling and found that the transcription factor STAT3 inhibitor static and the anthelmintic niclosamide effectively inhibited STAT3-PARN signaling in brain tumor stem cells, suggesting the possibility of developing novel therapies optimized for malignant brain tumors through further research.

"This study is the first to reveal the molecular biological mechanism by which the microRNA regulator PARN is involved in the activation of EGFR-STAT3 signaling in malignant brain tumors," Professor Kim said. "Based on these findings, we will further analyze the interaction mechanisms between ribonucleic acids and regulators in various rare and difficult cancers, and derive anticancer candidates through inhibition studies to discover new anticancer targets."

The results of the research were published in Cancer Research.