Ovarian cancer isn't typically discovered until it's in the advanced stages, where it is already spreading to other organs and is very difficult to fight with chemotherapy. This new discovery may allow physicians to turn back the clock of the tumor's life cycle to a phase where traditional chemotherapy can better do its job.

Scientists at the Ovarian Cancer Institute Laboratory at the Georgia Institute of Technology have found in initial tests that a regulatory RNA called miR-429 may be successful in inducing metastatic or spreading cancer cells to convert back to a less metastatic, non-invasive form. The research appears online in the journal Gynecologic Oncology.

"Primary tumors are rarely fatal," said John F. McDonald, director of the Integrated Cancer Research Center in Georgia Tech's School of Biology and chief research scientist at the Ovarian Cancer Institute. "Most cancer patients succumb because the cancer metastasizes, and current chemotherapies are not designed to kill metastasizing cancer cells."

(ScienceDaily)

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