Hualien medico honored for liver cancer research
Director Hu Chi-tang of Tzuchi Hospital’s Liver Diseases Research Center in Hualien was awarded this year’s Special Research Prize for his work on the interactions between snail genes in liver cancer cells and other transcription factors by the 2009 Asian Digestive Medicine Week, sponsored by the Taiwan Digestive System Medical Association. His paper was chosen from entries from approximately 40 Asian nations and areas.
Dr. Hu says that ever since 1986, liver cancer has been the number-one killer of adult males in Taiwan, and the second most common cause of death among women. Eight percent of adult liver cancers are caused by infections of the liver during childhood. If hepatitis could be diagnosed and treated early, the success rate of curing the disease might be higher. But if the disease becomes chronic, there is the risk of fibrous changes to the liver, cirrhosis or cancer. The troublesome thing in terms of showing signs of having such an illness is that the liver has no nerves, so it is a “silent organ”. As much as 80% of a normal liver can be removed without endangering the patient’s life.
Since the founding of the Liver Diseases Research Center in Hualien at the Tzuchi Hospital, research teams have worked with Dr. Wu Wen-sheng of the Tzuchi University Department of Medical Technology and other physicians to unravel the molecular bases for liver cancer. After three years of intensive working, they discovered that two things would cut off cancerous changes – snail transcription factor and activated oxygen. Both acted on target sites in the liver or through genetic therapy.
Snail transcription factor is thought to be a key to the transcription of malignant liver tumors. Sometimes called the “snail gene”, this is thought to be a “switch” to transcription activity in the liver. This switch is controlled by the expression of a number of genes, which can simultaneously halt the transcription and growth of human liver cells. For example, the snail gene can “turn on” the P15INK4b gene to inhibit the cellular cycle.
To discover whether or not the snail gene was initiated, it was necessary to take a slice of liver tumor and do a molecular examination of the gene cells in the laboratory. Once an excessive value had been found, the researchers knew that the “switch” had been turned on. To turn it off, they had to use genetic therapy. They found a sequence in reverse to that of the snail gene, and inserted it into the gene, blocking its expression and achieving therapeutic effect. The research project is still underway at the hospital, and once animal studies are successful, this will herald great news in the fight against human cancers.
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