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Alfaisal?鲍苍颈惫别谤蝉颈迟测’蝉?diagnostic test could?also?be used to identify other diseases?
Hundreds of diseases are associated with a flaw in the LMNA gene, and researchers at?Alfaisal?University in Saudi Arabia are picking apart its?behaviour?to diagnose some of the most serious conditions threatening their country’s?inhabitants.?
Diabetes and cancer, which have been linked to changing lifestyles, are serious health burdens in Saudi Arabia, and are likely to become more widespread as Saudis’ quality of life improves.??
?found that, between 1990 and 2016, the incidence of thyroid cancer increased 26-fold, and there are 10 times more instances of breast, colon, bladder, and uterine cancers in the kingdom. Researchers estimate that about 7?million people are diabetic and 3?million are prediabetic, according to?.?Government ?that more than 40?per cent?of Saudi citizens are obese and up to 70?per cent?are overweight,?which puts them at greater risk of developing diabetes and cancer.?
Ahmad?Aljada, a researcher in?础濒蹿补颈蝉补濒’蝉?department of?biochemistry and?molecular?medicine,?has worked with colleagues to?develop and patent a diagnostic test to screen for early-stage cancer.?, early cancer detection greatly increases a person’s chances of successful treatment.?
Alfaisal?explicitly includes health, biomedicine and pharmaceuticals in its research priorities, based on the country’s national policy for science and technology, its national development plan, and?Saudi?Vision 2030. Diseases, genetics, and biotechnology and biomaterials feature prominently?within?those?prioritised?research?programmes.?
Dr?Aljada?and?his?colleagues investigated the LMNA gene, which provides the body with instructions to make proteins called?lamins. Two of these –?lamin?A and?lamin?C – are made in most cells. “These are involved in more than 350?laminopathologies?[diseases associated with malfunctioning?lamins],” he says. Many of these pathologies are linked to?ageing.??
For example,??is caused by a mutation in the LMNA gene that affects?lamin?A production. Children with this syndrome begin?ageing?rapidly and then?die young.??
Dr?Aljada?began his career in diabetes research, investigating proteins linked with inflammation and diabetes. He suspected that these?lamins, which encode for the strength and stability in cells, could be involved in other diseases and could be used to identify these diseases early on. “I’ve been trying to identify?ageing?proteins to assess their effects in different diseases, especially diabetes,” he says.?Lamin?A proteins have been linked to?ageing. However, there were no specific tests for the different?Lamin?A proteins, which could identify the protein at fault.?“They lacked specific assays to measure quantitatively each?lamin?A at the protein or n mRNA levels,”?he explains.
This is what the research set out to create. In their latest work,?Dr?Aljada?and?his?colleagues found a way to quantify the different levels of proteins, including?lamin?A and C, and discovered that a ratio of the two was a diagnostic marker for breast cancer.?
The researchers investigated breast tissue from 16 cancer-free samples and 128 breast?adenocarcinoma, which are malignant?tumours. “We found that the expression level of?lamin?C was significantly increased in the breast tumors tested, whereas the expression levels of?lamin?A were significantly decreased,” the authors write?.?In?, they showed a technique to quantify the different?lamin?A variants at a protein level.?
They found that this diagnostic marker was especially effective for early stage cases of breast cancer. Although breast cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer in women,??because it presents with very few symptoms. A test that could diagnose it early could save lives.?
There are also indications that?础濒蹿补颈蝉补濒’蝉?diagnostic test could be used for other cancers, such as colorectal.?
With a view to having a practical impact, the research is not only published in academic journals: the researchers??to protect their discovery.?
“The goal is to license or?commercialise?the diagnostic test,” Dr?Aljada?says. “Our university is geared towards technology transfer and that’s what we’re trying to establish right now.”
Dr?Aljada, who has been at?Alfaisal?since 2018, moved to the institution to collaborate with colleagues there. “I know in my department, there is a culture of collaboration,” he says, “and the university is encouraging?a culture of collaboration” across the institution.?
Alfaisal?has formed research groups to facilitate internal and external collaboration. For example, Dr?Aljada?is part of the oncology research group, which allows for cooperation with others in the field.?
The campus’ location?complements its?biomedical research. Located in the grounds of the late King Faisal’s Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital and financial hub,?Alfaisal?University is near the King Faisal Specialist Hospital – something that?Aljada?notes is vital to his research. “It’s a five-minute walk away, and I’m collaborating with several researchers there, which allows me to use their research facilities,” he says.?
Students at?Alfaisal?are?encouraged?to learn from and contribute to flagship research projects,?such as its work on?early-stage cancer detection. This is a strategic goal for the university, as it positions itself as a student-centred?institution?that?enables?its students to gain hands-on experience.??
“Research, as well as recent trends, indicates that we must move from theory-based curricula to task-based curricula, allowing students to be exposed to the most up-to-date practices,” says the university’s president, Mohammed?Alhayaza.
In Dr?础濒箩补诲补’蝉?laboratory, there are undergraduates and postgraduates, some of whom were involved in this?particular?research. “Providing this kind of research environment is not easy, but it is going well,” he says. “[Students]?love the research and it is an interesting experience for them. They’re very enthusiastic about it.”?
?about Alfaisal University.
