Researchers zero in on a special type of RNA to combat cancer

Researchers zero in on a special type of RNA to combat cancer

Subject :Science  and Technology

Section: Bio  Technology

• Among the several types of RNAs, the micro-RNA, or miRNA, influences how genes make proteins. In other words, miRNA can kill a cell or help it proliferate. (miRNA is different from mRNA, or messenger RNA, which has been in the news recently as a coronavirus vaccine.)
• There is ongoing research to find out which miRNA works best for which type of cancer, how to make it and how to deliver it into the body. This approach to cancer therapy gains even more importance when compared with conventional cancer therapies such as chemo, radiation and surgery, which end up killing the good cells of the body, too.
• Chennai researchers identify a micro-RNA that kills breast cancer cells by weakening their defence against debilitating oxidation
• In this cancer, especially among Indian women, a protein called SLC7A11 gets over-produced in the cancer cells.
• The traditional way of treating this is to use drugs such as sulfasalazine to inhibit the production of this protein.
• In the latest development, the researchers have identified an miRNA, called miR-5096, as the one that is effective against breast cancer.
• miR-5096 was found to induce cell death by suppressing the SLC7A11 protein. The cell death occurs by a process known as ferroptosis
• Ferroptosis is a way of killing cells (programmed cell death) that was discovered a decade ago, where cells die when iron accumulates inside them. Now, iron means rust, and the anti-oxidants in the body fight this rust. This way, the accumulated iron uses up all the anti-oxidants in the cell, leaving the cell membrane defenceless against the oxidation that happens naturally. Cell membranes are made up of lipids and proteins. The lipids get oxidised (called lipid peroxidation) and the cell membrane collapses, killing the cell.
• Researchers used bio-informatic target prediction tools like TargetScan, miR-WALK, and got an indication that miR-5096 might target the protein SLC7A11.

States holding up results of Economic Census: Centre

• The Centre has blamed the States for a prolonged delay in releasing the findings of the Seventh Economic Census, a critical compendium of formal and informal non-farm enterprises operating across the country, in a submission to the Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance.
• Conducted every five years, the EC, which also captures the employment creation by each firm, their ownership pattern and sources of finance at a granular level, was last carried out in 2013-14.
• It is being carried out by the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation (MoSPI) in collaboration with Common Service Centre (CSC), a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) under Ministry of Electronics and IT.
• It was held in 1978 for the first time
• For the first time, an IT-based digital platform is being used for data capture, validation, report generation and dissemination will be used.
• The government had planned to use the 7 th EC data to create a Statistical Business Register or SBR that can be tapped to obtain critical inputs on business demography for policy interventions by government agencies at the Central and State levels.
• The EC database may also provide insights into evolving nature of entrepreneurship; corresponding skilling requirement and employment potential, etc. Future economic censuses are expected to update the SBR.