Monday 17 September 2012

Cell death mystery yields new suspect for cancer drug development

A mysterious form of cell death, coded in proteins and enzymes, led to a discovery by UNC researchers uncovering a prime suspect for new cancer drug development. What Dr. Leisner and her colleagues found, in the end, is that CIB1 is a master regulator of two pathways that cancer cells use to avoid normal mechanisms for programmed cell death. These two pathways, researchers believe, create “alternate routes” for cell survival and proliferation that may help cancer cells outsmart drug therapy. When one pathway is blocked, the other still sends signals downstream to cause cancer cell survival. This multi-pathway action is key to developing more effective drugs. Read more here.

Study mentioned: Leisner TM, et al. CIB1 prevents nuclear GAPDH accumulation and non-apoptotic tumor cell death via AKT and ERK signaling. Oncogene. 2012 Sep 10. doi: 10.1038/onc.2012.408. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 22964641

No comments:

Post a Comment