The prestigious international scientific journal, “Nucleosides, Nucleotides & Nucleic Acids”, published a research article by the Head of the Department of Natural and Applied Sciences of the College of Arts and Sciences at the American University of Iraq-Baghdad (AUIB), Dr. Mohammad Fayyad Kazan, under the title, “MicroRNA-138 inhibits hypoxia-inducible factor 1α expression in breast cancer cells”. The article is a result of a study, itself part of a broader research project aiming to develop methods of diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, in which Dr. Kazan collaborates with distinguished researchers at the Lebanese University (UL), most prominent of which are UL President, Dr. Bassam Badran, who specializes in Cancer Immunology, and Dr. Eva Hamade, Director of the Platform for Research and Analysis in Environmental Sciences, who specializes in Biochemistry.
The study on which the published article is based discusses “the use of microRNA strands to help diagnose and treat some cancers,” as “recent research has shown that the quantity of microRNA strands in cancer cells is anomalous, either too high or too low. It has been shown that these strands have a role in the occurrence and development of cancer. We tried bringing the quantity of these strands back to its normal level, thus treating cancer cells. We focused our attention on the MicroRNA-138 strand in particular; we studied it and found that it controls the behavior of cells by inhibiting specific proteins… thus preventing the transformation of these cells into cancer cells,” explains Dr. Kazan, pointing out that recent developments in biotechnology allow for the manufacture of desired microRNA strands in laboratories, and their insertion in cells in specific quantities.
The article may be accessed via the following link:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39004901