Akhir 24, 1432, March 29, 2011, SPA -- King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center (KFSH&RC) has identified genes potentially playing an important role in the progression of colorectal carcinoma (CRC), a discovery that leads to the gene silencing, in a medical discovery that received recognition from internationally peer-reviewed journals. GeneChip Technology (Affymetrix) was used to study gene expression in CRC samples. Genome-Wide Expression Analysis of Middle Eastern Colorectal Cancer Reveals FOXM1 as a Novel Target for Cancer Therapy, is a scientific article by leading researchers at KFSH&RC in Riyadh. These researchers include Khawla Al-Kuraya, Samar Alhomoud Samar, Fouad Al-Dayel Fouad. It was on the cover page of American Journal of Pathology issued last February and also on The Target Intelligence Service - A global data base for medical findings which may have an impact in the discovery of new drugs. "In order to identify genes potentially playing an important role in the progression of colorectal carcinoma (CRC), the researchers screened global gene expression using cDNA expression array on 41 CRC tissue samples and 25 noncancerous colorectal tissue samples. Among the up-regulated genes, forkhead box M1 (FOXM1) has been shown to play a critical role in pathogenesis of various malignancies," an abstract of the scientific article noted. "Using immunohistochemistry on 448 Saudi CRC samples in tissue microarray format, FoxM1 protein's overexpression was seen in 66% of CRC tissues and was significantly associated with poorly differentiated and highly proliferative tumors (P = 0.0200 and 0.0018, respectively). FoxM1 expression was also significantly associated with MMP-9 protein expression (P = 0.0002). In vitro data using CRC cell lines showed that inhibition of FoxM1 by thiostrepton resulted in inhibition of proliferation and induction of apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. Overexpression of FoxM1 potentiated cell proliferation, cell transformation, and migration/invasion of CRC cells via up-regulation of FoxM1 target genes MMP2 and MMP9 and protected these cells from thiostrepton-mediated antiproliferative effects. Finally, in vivo, overexpression of FoxM1 promoted growth of CRC-cell line xenograft tumors in nude mice. Altogether, our data indicate that FoxM1 signaling contributes to aggressiveness in a subset of CRC and that the FOXM1 gene may serve as a useful molecular biomarker and potential therapeutic target," the abstract concluded. Dr. Khawla Al-Kuraya, is a consultant and the principal clinical scientist at the King Faisal Hospital and Research Center. She was also appointed as the director to the Department of Human Cancer Genomic Research, as well as director for the Research Center for Children's Cancer. She has contributed many internationally peer-reviewed journals and has presented her findings in global summits as well as local conferences. In January 2010, King Abdullah Ibn Abdulaziz conferred the prestigious “First Rank King Abdulaziz Medal” on Dr. Khawla Al-Kuraya in recognition of her achievements in science that have made her a prominent international figure in cancer research.
