(Press-News.org) Chapel Hill, NC – Researchers from UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center are part of a team that has identified a protein, called P-Rex1, that is key to the movement of cells called melanoblasts. When these cells experience uncontrolled growth, melanoma develops.
Melanoma is one of the only forms of cancer that is still on the rise and is one of the most common forms of cancer in young adults. The incidence of melanoma in women under age 30 has increased more than 50 percent since 1980. Metastases are the major cause of death from melanoma.
The team found that mice lacking the P-Rex1 protein are resistant to melanoma metastases. When researchers tested human melanoma cells and tumor tissue for the protein, P-Rex1 was elevated in the majority of cases – a clue that the protein plays an important role in the cancer's spread. Their findings were published today in the journal Nature Communications.
"We know that mutations in a gene called BRAF are important for the development of melanoma and several years ago we published a collaborative paper listing 82 proteins that seem to be affected by this genetic pathway. From that list, we focused on P-Rex1 in collaboration with Dr. Nancy Thomas here at UNC and researchers in the United Kingdom," says Channing Der, PhD, a member of the UNC research team. Der is Kenan Professor of pharmacology at UNC-Chapel Hill and member of UNC Lineberger.
A drug approved this summer, vemurafenib, is the first treatment directed at the BRAF mutation. Clinical trials found that the treatment offers a significant survival benefit.
"We think that vemurafenib may work, in part, by blocking the up-regulation of P-Rex1," Der adds.
"As a physician and scientist, I know firsthand the frustration of having very limited therapeutic options to offer to patients with metastatic melanoma," says Nancy Thomas, MD, PhD, whose laboratory analyzed the protein's expression in human cells. "Pinpointing that P-Rex1 plays a key role in metastasis gives us a better understanding of how vemurafenib may work and a target for developing new treatments," she adds.
INFORMATION:
Thomas is a professor of dermatology and member of UNC Lineberger.
The work at UNC Lineberger was led by Katherine Pedone, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in Der's laboratory. Other team members were Alexander Finn, MD, PhD, Pamela Groben, MD, Honglin Hao, and Craig Carson, PhD.
This study included Owen Sansom, PhD and collaborators at the Beatson Institute and other collaborators in the UK, France, Canada and Switzerland.
The research was supported by the Association of International Cancer, National Institutes of Health, American Cancer Society, Cancer Research UK and Target-Melanoma. Initial support at UNC was provided by the University Cancer Research Fund.
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OAKLAND, Calif., November 22, 2011 – HIV-infected patients are at increased risk for cancer as a result of both their impaired immune system and lifestyle factors, such as smoking, according to researchers at Kaiser Permanente.
The study, which appears in the current issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, is among the first to directly compare the risk of cancer in HIV-infected patients with a comparison group without HIV infection, while accounting for major cancer risk factors.
Of the 10 cancer types studied, six were more common in HIV patients, ...
A new study from researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) has found that a group of volunteers who consumed a serving of canned soup each day for five days had a more than 1,000% increase in urinary bisphenol A (BPA) concentrations compared with when the same individuals consumed fresh soup daily for five days. The study is one of the first to quantify BPA levels in humans after ingestion of canned foods.
The findings were published online November 22, 2011, in the Journal of the Medical Association (JAMA) and will appear in the November 23/30 print issue.
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(Boston) – Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have, for the first time, identified an intracellular signaling enzyme that regulates the wake-sleep cycle, which could help lead to the development of more effective sleep aid medications. Subimal Datta, PhD, director and principle investigator at the Laboratory of Sleep and Cognitive Neuroscience at BUSM, led the study, which points to a specific enzyme inside neurons in the brain that trigger an important shift in consciousness from sleep to wakefulness and wakefulness to sleep.
The results will ...
Madison, Wis. — Images of prisoners' brains show important differences between those who are diagnosed as psychopaths and those who aren't, according to a new study led by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers.
The results could help explain the callous and impulsive anti-social behavior exhibited by some psychopaths.
The study showed that psychopaths have reduced connections between the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), the part of the brain responsible for sentiments such as empathy and guilt, and the amygdala, which mediates fear and anxiety. Two types ...
Hamilton, ON (Nov. 22, 2011) – For years doctors have warned that too much salt is bad for your heart. Now a new McMaster University study suggests that both high and low levels of salt intake may put people with heart disease or diabetes at increased risk of cardiovascular complications.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) today, found that moderate salt intake was associated with the lowest risk of cardiovascular events, while a higher intake of sodium was associated with an increased risk of stroke, heart attack and other ...
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The U.S. government could save the economy hundreds of billions of dollars per year by 2050 by spending a few billion dollars more a year to spur innovations in energy technology, according to a new report by researchers at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Achieving major cuts in carbon emissions in the process will also require policies that put a substantial price on carbon or set clean energy standards, the researchers find.
The report is the result of a three-year project to develop a set of actionable recommendations to achieve "a revolution in energy ...
DALLAS -- A research team led by UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists has identified an atypical metabolic pathway unique to some tumors, possibly providing a future target for drugs that could reduce or halt the spread of cancer.
Dr. Ralph DeBerardinis, senior author of the study published Nov. 20 in Nature, likened the newly discovered pathway to traffic that is rerouted during a highway construction project.
"If we hone in on this reverse pathway, then we may be able to prevent the growth of certain types of cancer," said Dr. DeBerardinis, assistant professor ...
The structural mechanism of typical mortise–tenon joints of southern Chinese traditional timber frame buildings was investigated. The investigation provides a scientific basis for the repair of these ancient buildings. The research was published in SCIENCE CHINA Technological Sciences.2011, Vol 54(7).
The timber members of Chinese traditional timber buildings are connected with mortise–tenon joints, which are the core technology of Chinese and East Asian traditional timber buildings. Scientific knowledge of mortise–tenon joints is the key to understanding the structural ...
A magnetic force microscope (MFM) can determine the distribution of stray fields at a level of tens of nanometers near the surface of magnetic films, and therefore is an effective tool for observing the domain structures in magnetic grains of submicrometer size. At present, the coercivity of normal MFM cantilevers is about 0.3 kOe. Being affected by the magnetism of the measured material, the stability of these cantilevers is unsatisfactory. By applying a FePt layer, the coercivity can reach ~10 kOe. However, the accompanying high-temperature (over 750°C) annealing spoils ...
MyDish, the UK based recipe community site, has been witnessing this trend firsthand and is all for this UK resurgence. After all, Thanksgiving is not just about the first American pilgrims, historically, it marked the end of the year's harvest and was a celebration of thanks for the year's crops.
People across the UK have cottoned on to this fact and more and more are deciding to give 'thanks' too. Whether it is an indication of Britain becoming further Americanised or the UK exercising their right to get their hands on their favourite roast chicken recipes it is not ...
