PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Compounds outsmart solid tumors' malfunctioning machinery

Precise action sets agents apart from existing anti-cancer therapies

2013-07-18
(Press-News.org) SAN ANTONIO (July 17, 2013) — Molecular biologists in the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio have found a novel way to fine-tune the activity of cells' protein-disposing machinery, with potentially cancer-fighting effects.

This machinery, the proteasome, is deregulated in cancer. Agents called protease inhibitors are viewed as potential anti-cancer therapies, but they indiscriminately curb proteasome activity, which also includes protein recycling. Such strategy is effective to kill cells in aggressive blood cancers but leads to drug resistance and excessive toxicity in solid tumors.

Fine-tuning

The new strategy may change that. By basically outsmarting the cell's machinery, compounds called allosteric regulators are able to fine-tune the proteasome actions instead of block them. "The result is that cell lines from solid tumors, which are resistant to existing therapy, are sensitive to these agents," said Pawel Osmulski, Ph.D., assistant professor of molecular medicine at the Health Science Center. He and Maria Gaczynska, Ph.D., associate professor of molecular medicine, co-authored a report in Molecular Pharmacology that provides a basis for this approach.

'Highly beneficial'

Deregulation of the proteasome's actions is noted in cancer or during aging and contributes to intracellular pathologies. "It is easy to envision that precise adjusting of the proteasome activities with therapeutic molecules would be highly beneficial in many human conditions," Dr. Osmulski said.

Inhibition and activation

"Allosteric regulators are better than proteasome-affecting agents used in clinics because they do not induce classical drug resistance," Dr. Gaczynska said. "They bind to sites on the proteasome molecule used by natural regulatory proteins. They are more specific and are not restricted to proteasome inhibition but can activate the proteasome under certain conditions."

The new strategy was serendipitously found during experiments with rapamycin, a drug that in a highly publicized study by the UT Health Science Center's Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies was found to extend life span in mice.

Potential

The Molecular Pharmacology report and follow-up studies describe the unexpected and highly desired effects that rapamycin and similar compounds elicit on the proteasome. Based on these studies, it would be possible to design a new line of proteasome regulators with anti-cancer properties, Drs. Osmulski and Gaczynska said. This work is in progress in their laboratory. Drs. Osmulski and Gaczynska are affiliated with the Barshop Institute and with the Cancer Therapy & Research Center at The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio.

###

The work was supported by the Mike Hogg Fund (to Maria Gaczynska), the William and Ella Owens Medical Research Foundation (to Maria Gaczynska), and the Institute for Integration of Medicine and Science Pilot Grant (to Pawel Osmulski). http://molpharm.aspetjournals.org/content/early/2013/04/25/mol.112.083873.full.pdf

On Web and social media

For current news from the UT Health Science Center San Antonio, please visit our news release website, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

About the UT Health Science Center San Antonio

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, one of the country's leading health sciences universities, ranks in the top 3 percent of all institutions worldwide receiving National Institutes of Health funding. The university's schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have produced approximately 28,000 graduates. The $736 million operating budget supports eight campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. For more information on the many ways "We make lives better®," visit http://www.uthscsa.edu.

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Antiepileptic drug use while pregnant impacts early child development

2013-07-18
Children whose mothers took antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) while pregnant are at increased risk of early development issues, according to a new study published in Epilepsia, a journal published by Wiley on behalf of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE). Results of the study suggest that children exposed to AEDs in the womb were at risk for difficulties with motor development, language skills, social skills, and autistic traits compared to children whose mothers did not take anti-seizure medications. Medical evidence suggests that epilepsy is fairly common in ...

Ovarian cancer metastases influenced by factors in target tissues

2013-07-18
Philadelphia, PA, July 18, 2013 – Cancer researchers have wondered why ovarian cancer cells are so attracted to the abdominal cavity, especially the omentum, with the hope that such an understanding could lead to better disease management or even prevention. Results from a series of experiments suggest a two-step model of omental colonization in which i) cancer cells are attracted to and lodge within immune cell-containing structures known as milky spots, and ii) fat storage cells (adipocytes) fuel cancer cell growth and spread. This study is scheduled for publication ...

Social media, DNA typing help identify source of foodborne strep outbreak

2013-07-18
[EMBARGOED FOR JULY 18, 2013] Facebook posts helped alert public health officials to a strep throat outbreak among a high school dance team in 2012, and DNA fingerprinting led investigators to pasta prepared by a previously ill parent as the likely source. Although strep throat, or Group A Streptococcus (GAS) pharyngitis, usually spreads from person to person by droplets, foodborne transmission is possible, as a report published online in Clinical Infectious Diseases found. The most common form of GAS illness is strep throat, but some cases can have more severe consequences. Among ...

Family tree of fish yields surprises

2013-07-17
The mighty tuna is more closely related to the delicate seahorse than to a marlin or sailfish. That is one of the surprises from the first comprehensive family tree, or phylogeny, of the "spiny-rayed fish," a group that includes about a third of all living vertebrate species. The work is published July 15 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The spiny-rayed fish are an incredibly diverse group, including tuna and billfish, tiny gobies and seahorses, and oddities such as pufferfish and anglerfish. The fish occupy every aquatic environment from ...

Health Affairs July issue contains global innovation studies from India And Brazil

2013-07-17
Bethesda, MD—Two new studies, in Health Affairs July 2013 issue, describe health success stories outside the US. One, by Sema Sgaier of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and colleagues, is titled "How The Avahan HIV Prevention Program Transitioned From The Gates Foundation To The Government Of India." It explains how the Gates Foundation worked with the Government of India to ensure a smooth transition of Avahan – an HIV prevention program funded and initiated by the Gates Foundation – to be run and managed by that government. The transition strategy, implemented ...

Susceptibility genes for cerebral infarction or hemorrhage in the Han in Hunan, China

2013-07-17
Atherosclerosis is widely recognized as an independent risk factor for stroke, and its occurrence is closely related to lipid metabolism. numerous studies using transgenic and knockout animals have shown that scavenger receptor class B type I has a protective effect against atherosclerosis. Previous studies of scavenger receptor class B type I gene polymorphisms have focused on the exon 1 G4A polymorphism and the exon 8 C1050T polymorphism, and these polymorphic loci impact blood lipid levels and are involved in the dyslipidemia in diabetes patients. A recent study published ...

New technology will improve neuron activation induced by cochlear implants

2013-07-17
Cochlear implants, electrical prosthetic devices that stimulate inner ear neurons of individuals who have lost their cochlear sensory cells, restore usable hearing to deaf patients. Cochlear implant electrodes are placed in the fluid-filled scala tympani of the cochlea, at a significant distance from the spiral ganglion and even from the spiral ganglion dendrites. Stimulation via a cochlear implant electrode pair is therefore likely to activate large numbers of neurons concurrently. This may decrease the resolution and dynamic range of information transmitted in patients ...

Health-related quality of life in PD patients in northeastern Sicily, Italy

2013-07-17
Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory emphasizes the development of a series of nested environment systems with which an individual interacts. These systems interact with the individual, and also affect the development of the individual. The theory is that the natural environment is the major source influencing human development, which is often ignored by scholars in the laboratory. U Brofenbrenner saw the individual's experience "as a set of nested structures, each inside the next, like a set of Russian dolls". In other words, the individual develops in the middle ...

Arg-Phe-amide-related peptides influence gonadotropin-releasing hormone neurons

2013-07-17
During the last decade, our understanding of this hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axis has quickly expanded. Two novel hypothalamic Arg-Phe-amide- related peptides, kisspeptin and gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone, may be important regulators of the reproductive axis. Kisspeptins are currently recognized as the most potent activators of the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axis. Kisspeptin and its receptor, G protein-coupled receptor 54 (GPR54), are expressed on gonadotropin-releasing hormone neurons, thus regulating the reproductive axis. Kisspeptins strongly release gonadotropin- ...

Discovery of a new class of white blood cells uncovers target for better vaccine design

2013-07-17
1. Scientists at A*STAR's Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) have discovered a new class of white blood cells in human lung and gut tissues that play a critical role as the first line of defence against harmful fungal and bacterial infections. This research will have significant impact on the design of vaccines and targeted immunotherapies for diseases caused by infectious microbes such as the hospital-acquired pneumonia. 2. The scientists also showed for the first time that key immune functions of this new class of white blood cells are similar to those found in mice. ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

New “bone-digesting” cell type discovered in pythons

New study points to Skagerrak as nursery area for the enigmatic Greenland shark

Are sewage spills and coastal winds contributing to airborne microplastics?

Which factors affect the success of popular prescription weight loss drugs in individuals?

Do renter protection policies reduce rental housing discrimination?

Does grading students at earlier ages increase the risk of mental disorders in adolescents?

New artificial intelligence–based test detects early signs of osteoporosis from X-ray images

Can eating a healthy plant-based diet help protect against inflammatory bowel disease?

Do local voting rights affect migrants’ participation in protests?

Mysterious ‘Dark Dwarfs’ may be hiding at the heart of the Milky Way

Real-world data shows teclistamab can benefit many multiple myeloma patients who would have been ineligible for pivotal trial

Scientists reveal how a key inflammatory molecule triggers esophageal muscle contraction

Duration of heat waves accelerating faster than global warming

New mathematical insights into Lagrangian turbulence

Clinical trials reveal promising alternatives to high-toxicity tuberculosis drug

Artificial solar eclipses in space could shed light on Sun

Probing the cosmic Dark Ages from the far side of the Moon

UK hopes to bolster space weather forecasts with Europe's first solar storm monitor

Can one video change a teen's mindset? New study says yes - but there’s a catch

How lakes connect to groundwater critical for resilience to climate change, research finds

Youngest basaltic lunar meteorite fills nearly one billion-year gap in Moon’s volcanic history

Cal Poly Chemistry professor among three U.S. faculty to be honored for contributions to chemistry instruction

Stoichiometric crystal shows promise in quantum memory

Study sheds light on why some prostate tumors are resistant to treatment

Tree pollen reveals 150,000 years of monsoon history—and a warning for Australia’s northern rainfall

Best skin care ingredients revealed in thorough, national review

MicroRNA is awarded an Impact Factor Ranking for 2024

From COVID to cancer, new at-home test spots disease with startling accuracy

Now accepting submissions: Special Collection on Cognitive Aging

Young adult literature is not as young as it used to be

[Press-News.org] Compounds outsmart solid tumors' malfunctioning machinery
Precise action sets agents apart from existing anti-cancer therapies