Alexander Reznik, a geneticist at the Hadassah Clinic (Moscow), in a conversation with RT, said that in the future microRNA molecules can be used as therapeutic agents in oncology. This is how he commented on the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of microRNA molecules, which was awarded to American scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ravkan.
“Micro-RNAs are compounds that have existed for millions of years. That is, they were in our bodies a long time ago and in the bodies of other complex representatives of the animal kingdom. They are tools for regulating gene activity. That is, under the influence of these microRNA regulatory molecules, cells acquire the functions necessary for a specific organ system… One microRNA can regulate the functioning of several genes. That is, this is such a well-coordinated, rather complex mechanism that underlies the generally normal life of complex organisms,” said the specialist.
He also noted that disruption of this mechanism can lead, for example, to oncology or other diseases.
“And therefore microRNA molecules will be used as therapeutic agents, they will be introduced or delivered somehow into the body or into cells,” Resnik suggested.
According to him, the medical community is using all possible tools to fight cancer, and microRNA molecules can become one of these tools.
Earlier it became known that American scientists were awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of microRNA molecules that regulate the functioning of genes.
