Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey research reveals mechanism behind cell protein remodeling

According to the National Cancer Institute, more than a third of all human cancers are driven by mutations in the Ras family of genes. When Ras is activated, it promotes tumor growth but also activates autophagy which helps to sustain that growth. These cancers remodel proteins using the cellular self-cannibalization process known as autophagy to capture and degrade intracellular proteins and protein-containing organelles. Since Ras-driven cancers often rely on autophagy for growth and survival, this raised the question: Is proteome remodeling by autophagy important, and if so, by what mechanism? This question was answered in research by senior author Eileen White, PhD, associate director for basic science at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, and colleagues. They compared the global proteome (all of the expressed proteins) of Ras-driven cancer cells where autophagy was present to those where autophagy was deficient. Read more here.