GASTROINTESTINAL CANCER RESEARCH

Harnessing nonprotein-coding RNAs to improve early diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer

Dr Yuchen Feng

Dr Yuchen’s grant is funded by Cure Cancer

She is based at The University of Newcastle.

Dr Yuchen Feng obtained a bachelor’s degree in medicine from China in 2016 before moving to the University of Newcastle, NSW. In 2021, she obtained a PhD degree in medical biochemistry.

Dr Yuchen is currently a postdoctoral researcher at The University of Newcastle. Her research is focused on cancer biology, in particular on the mechanisms of nonprotein-coding RNAs such as long noncoding RNAs in cancer.

Dr Yuchen Feng's research

A popular misconception about DNA and genes is that there is a 1:1 correlation between a gene and a function. For example, the gene for intelligence, or the social gene. The reality is of course much more complicated.

Although the human genome has over 46,000 genes, there are not nearly enough genes to account for all the different aspects that make up who we are. Instead, this is likely driven by the regulators of proteins which alter the amount of protein expressed and/or manipulate how the proteins function. One such regulator is long non-coding RNA.

Dr Yuchen’s lab has identified that some specific long non-coding RNAs are disproportionately overproduced in colorectal cancer. This suggests that these long non-coding RNAs are involved in the progression of this disease. Dr Yuchen’s project seeks to understand the relationship between these regulators and colorectal cancer, which could have two exciting outcomes. The first would be a new diagnostic tool that could help clinicians identify and treat cancer at early stages of the disease. The second would be a potential new target for therapy, where we silence the function of the regulators that enhance cancer growth.

“Although long non-coding RNAs were historically thought not to have a biological function, it is now clear that they are critical regulators of many biological processes, including cancer development. We have found that these RNAs are involved in colorectal cancer development and treatment resistance,” Dr Yuchen explains.

“In this project, we will further explore their potential as biomarkers for early colorectal cancer diagnosis and as therapeutic targets for colorectal cancer treatment. In the long term, the results will lead to novel treatment approaches, thus improving outcomes for patients with late-stage colorectal cancer.”

The importance of cancer research funding

“I have successfully identified novel molecules that show great potential as biomarkers for early diagnosis and therapeutic targets for cancer treatment.

“The Cure Cancer grant gives me the opportunity to further test the potentials of these molecules. It will also allow me to establish new collaborations with other researchers working in the field of molecular biology and cancer, as well as with clinicians and pharmaceutical companies who can help me take my research to clinical trial and convert the research outcomes into commercial products.

“I’m incredibly grateful to the supporters of Cure Cancer for giving me this opportunity. I fully anticipate that our findings will provide novel strategies for cancer diagnosis and treatment to improve the survival and life qualify of cancer patients,” Dr Yuchen says.

“I want to learn everything I can about cancer biology so that I can discover new therapeutics to improve the survival and quality of life of cancer patients.”

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