South Korean researchers have recently discovered that a certain protein plays a pivotal role in causing cancer to develop in the liver.<br />With this protein isolated, the team says, new techniques could make liver cancer treatments more effective.<br />Cho Sung-min has this story. <br />Cancer of the liver is the fifth most deadly kind of cancer in the world.<br />And in Korea, data collected since 2016 show it's the second deadliest here. And it has a high rate of recurrence.<br />In fact, experts say up to 70 percent of patients who are successfully treated for liver cancer, get it again.<br /><br />Those figures make this recent discovery by local researchers a possible game changer.<br />A team at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology said it found a specific protein called TonEBP that triggers the development and recurrence of liver cancer. <br />Interestingly, its was first identified in 1999 by Professor Kwon Hyug-moo… who also led this study.<br /><br /><br />"TonEBP occurs in body parts with inflammation. The more the body part is inflamed, the more proteins are found."<br /><br />According to the study conducted on nearly three hundred liver cancer patients in Korea, almost all cases have proved a strong correlation between a liver tumor and the protein.<br />Scientists say TonEBP expression was clearly higher in tumors than in adjacent non-cancerous tissues in more than 92 percent of patients.<br />The result is considered significant since the team made the finding by directly testing on cancerous human tissue… as opposed to numerous cases where experiments are done on animals.<br /><br />Professor Kwon says the next step for him and his team is to find out how resistent the protein is to chemotherapy,... which will enable more effective liver cancer treatments.<br />Cho Sung-min, Arirang News. <br />
