Researchers at Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (Barcelona, Spain) have identified the PARD3 gene as a tumor suppressor that is inactivated in lung cancer squamous type.

PARD3 gene encodes a protein that regulates cell polarization and cell junctions. When the gene is inactivated, errors occur in this cell orientation and in contact with neighboring cells. “Any change affecting this structure promotes tumor development,” said the researcher Montse Sanchez-Cespedes.

By restoring protein encoded by PARD3 levels, both, cell lines and animal models of mice, we observed that regulating de novo polarization of cells, significantly reduced the risk of metastasis.

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