(Press-News.org) CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - While the mutated KRAS oncogene is associated with many cancers, it has not yet been successfully targeted by a therapeutic agent. Scientists are trying to find another way to target the gene by blocking signals from another protein downstream.
A University of North Carolina School of Medicine team offers first evidence of the role of a protein called GSK-3 alpha in promoting oncogenic KRAS function. When the scientists inhibited GSK-3 in a model of pancreatic tumors, the team got a strong anti-tumor response, thus offering a potential therapeutic option. Their findings are published in the June issue of the journal Cancer Discovery.
Albert Baldwin, William Rand Kenan Professor of Biology, study senior author, and associate director of UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, says, "GSK-3 promotes activity of a protein called NF-kappa B. Our lab has been studying NF-kappa B for a number of years and has published that this protein is important in KRAS signaling. But how KRAS activates NF-kappa B has not been well understood. We have found a link."
GKS-3 has alpha and beta forms. The beta form has been studied and is considered to be a tumor suppressor. GSK-3 alpha was considered to be redundant to GSK-3 beta. The research team studied GSK-3 alpha in mice with human pancreatic tumors and found through their experiments that its function is different from GSK-3 beta.
"Our data suggest that GSK-alpha is really an onco-protein and that KRAS utilizes GSK-alpha to activate both NF-kappa B pathways, called canonical and noncanonical. This finding is important because GSK-3 alpha sits on top of the two pathways and inhibits them both, thus making it a viable therapeutic target. We are conducting further pharmacologic studies," said Baldwin.
INFORMATION:
UNC study co-authors are Deepali Bang, MS; Willie Wilson, PhD, now at the National Cancer Institute; Meagan Ryan, BS, and Jen Jen Yeh, MD.
Support for the research was funded by NIH CA7508, NIH CA 73756, NIH CA140424, the Waxman Cancer Research Foundation, and the UNC Biological and Biomedical Sciences Program.
UNC scientists identify possible KRAS downstream target for pancreatic cancer therapy
2013-05-28
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Soda and illegal drugs cause similar damage to teeth
2013-05-28
CHICAGO (May 28, 2013)—Addicted to soda? You may be shocked to learn that drinking large quantities of your favorite carbonated soda could be as damaging to your teeth as methamphetamine and crack cocaine use. The consumption of illegal drugs and abusive intake of soda can cause similar damage to your mouth through the process of tooth erosion, according to a case study published in the March/April 2013 issue of General Dentistry, the peer-reviewed clinical journal of the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD).
Tooth erosion occurs when acid wears away tooth enamel, which ...
Children of long-lived parents less likely to get cancer
2013-05-28
The offspring of parents who live to a ripe old age are more likely to live longer themselves, and less prone to cancer and other common diseases associated with ageing, a study has revealed.
Experts at the University of Exeter Medical School, supported by the National Institute for Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care in the South West Peninsula (NIHR PenCLAHRC), led an international collaboration which discovered that people who had a long-lived mother or father were 24% less likely to get cancer. The scientists compared ...
Researchers identify novel class of drugs for prostate cancers
2013-05-28
DALLAS – May 28, 2013 – A new study on prostate cancer describes a novel class of drugs developed by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers that interrupts critical signaling needed for prostate cancer cells to grow.
In men with advanced prostate cancer, growth of cancer cells depends on androgen receptor signaling, which is driven by androgens, such as testosterone. To thwart tumor growth, most patients with advanced prostate cancer receive drugs that block the production of androgen or block the receptor where the androgen binds. Unfortunately, such treatments invariably ...
Striking green-eyed butterfly discovered in the United States
2013-05-28
A new butterfly species from Texas, given the common name Vicroy's Ministreak, was discovered because of its striking olive green eye color, and was given a formal scientific name (Ministrymon janevicroy). This beautiful new butterfly may be the last truly distinctive butterfly species to be discovered in the United States.
Although individuals of Vicroy's Ministreak were deposited in the Smithsonian entomology collections a century ago, this species was unrecognized because it was confused with the common, similar-looking Gray Ministreak. Interestingly what distinguishes ...
Fast-sinking jellyfish could boost the oceans' uptake of carbon dioxide
2013-05-28
The oceans absorb about 25 percent of the carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by human activities. Since the industrial revolution, they have taken up about half of the man-made CO2. Billions of planktonic organisms, too tiny to be seen with the naked eye, make this valuable service possible: When carbon dioxide from the atmosphere dissolves in seawater, various species convert it to organic carbon and other organic components during photosynthesis. Jellyfish and pelagic tunicates live on smaller plankton and thus consume organic carbon. When they sink to the seafloor at the end ...
Men, women lie about sex to match gender expectations
2013-05-28
COLUMBUS, Ohio – People will lie about their sexual behavior to match cultural expectations about how men or women should act – even though they wouldn't distort other gender-related behaviors, new research suggests.
The study found that men were willing to admit that they sometimes engaged in behaviors seen by college students as more appropriate for women, such as writing poetry. The same was true for women, who didn't hide the fact that they told obscene jokes, or sometimes participated in other "male-type" deeds.
But when it came to sex, men wanted to be seen as ...
Digital chest tomosynthesis possible lung cancer screening tool
2013-05-28
DENVER – Most lung cancers are detected when patients become symptomatic and have late-stage disease. However, recently, computed tomography (CT) screening for lung cancer has been reported to reduce lung cancer mortality. Since the National Lung Screening Trial's results showed a 20 percent reduction in lung cancer-specific deaths in those patients who had screening performed with chest CT, the use of CT screening for lung cancer has been gaining favor. However, CT is associated with the disadvantages of high radiation dosage and cost.
Digital chest tomosynthesis (DT), ...
Research highlights the increasing problem of prescription drug abuse among youth
2013-05-28
Young people are increasingly turning to prescription drugs to get high. Research out of the University of Cincinnati sheds new light on what could increase or lower that risk.
The research by Keith King, a University of Cincinnati professor of health promotion; Rebecca Vidourek, a UC assistant professor of health promotion; and Ashley Merianos, a graduate assistant in health promotion, is published in the current issue of the Journal of Primary Prevention.
The study focused on more than 54,000 7th- through 12th - grade students in schools across Greater Cincinnati, ...
Researchers provide rationale for use of targeted immunotherapy in sarcomatoid lung carcinomas
2013-05-28
DENVER – Sarcomatoid carcinomas of the lung include rare subtypes of poorly differentiated non–small-cell lung carcinomas of high grade and aggressive behavior. The biology of these neoplasms is poorly understood and these tumors are aggressive and resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The identification of actionable molecular targets for such infrequent and aggressive diseases is critical for design of new clinical trials.
Programmed death-1 (PD-1) is a co-inhibitory inducible receptor present on T-cells and macrophages. Tumor cells with increased programmed ...
Beer-pouring robot programmed to anticipate human actions
2013-05-28
ITHACA, N.Y. – A robot in Cornell's Personal Robotics Lab has learned to foresee human action in order to step in and offer a helping hand, or more accurately, roll in and offer a helping claw.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaa_wEkCvG0
Understanding when and where to pour a beer or knowing when to offer assistance opening a refrigerator door can be difficult for a robot because of the many variables it encounters while assessing the situation. A team from Cornell has created a solution.
Gazing intently with a Microsoft Kinect 3-D camera and using a database ...