A way to drive cancer cells to suicide?
Scientists have found that the difference between life and death for some cancer cells hinges on a tiny molecular change – which could one day be harnessed to drive cancer cells to suicide.
Researchers from Oxford University, the University of Texas, and the Genome Institute of Singapore at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) found that E2F, a protein which helps control cell growth, can be affected by a process called methylation.
This involves a cluster of carbon and hydrogen atoms that latch on to the outside of a gene or protein, magnifying or lessening its action.
Depending on where E2F is methylated, it can either cause cells to die or to proliferate, with what researchers termed “an exquisite level of precision”.
“It’s like there’s an angel and a devil competing to get on each shoulder of the protein,” said Professor Nick La Thangue of the Department of Oncology at Oxford University, who supervised the project.
“Which one gets the upper hand is able to whisper in the ear of the protein and tell it what it should do. With the molecular flag on one shoulder, E2F goes into cell kill mode. With the flag on the other, it goes into cell growth mode.”
The team suggested that this mechanism could be used for new cancer treatments to encourage cancer cells to die.
Its research will be published in this week’s issue of the journal Molecular Cell.
A*Star chief scientist David Lane commented: “The detailed study of protein modifications is proving to be a very fertile area for the discovery of effective new targets for cancer drug discovery.”
Source: The Straits Times
Published: 07 Oct 2013
Category: Features, Technology & Devices
