(Press-News.org) Disrupting a key interaction between two types of proteins in cells inhibits the spread of cancerous cells, providing researchers with a new pathway toward developing cancer-fighting drugs, according to new findings by Georgia State University scientists.
Cell migration is essential for the spread of cancerous cells, also known as metastasis, as well as for other diseases. The research team in the labs of Zhi-Ren Liu, professor of biology, and Jenny Yang, professor of biochemistry, studied the interaction of two molecules, p68 RNA helicase and calcium-calmodulin.
Interrupting the interaction between p68 and calcium-calmodulin, which is essential for cell migration, inhibited metastasis.
The findings were recently published in Nature Communications.
"Cancer, at its primary site, will not necessary kill," Liu explained. "Cancer kills by multi-site metastasis. If we are able to disrupt this interaction, we will able to inhibit cancer metastasis. The research indicates that the interaction is absolutely required for all cell migration, and we suspect it may not be limited to cancerous-type cells. It may be a general phenomenon for all cell types."
Calcium-calmodulin is an important protein, acting like a messenger to turn different proteins on and off, said Yang, whose lab focuses on calcium's role in biological processes.
"Calmodulin is a very interesting protein and it interacts with many different systems in response to calcium level changes," she said. "We have demonstrated a new target. There are new ways possible to modulate calcium signaling as a way to treat diseases."
Because cell migration is a common phenomenon that is not only normal, but also related to diseases, there are impacts on treating other diseases, Liu said, from inflammation to neurodegenerative diseases and heart disease.
###
The paper, "Interaction between p68 RNA helicase and Ca2+-calmodulin promotes cell migration and metastasis" in Nature Communications is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms2345.
Media requesting a copy of the study can also contact Jeremy Craig.
For more about Liu, visit http://biology.gsu.edu/5715.html.
For more about Yang, visit http://chemistry.gsu.edu/faculty/Yang/. END
New target to stop cancer's spread discovered by Georgia State scientists
2013-01-30
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
NTU research embraces laser and sparks cool affair
2013-01-30
Bulky and noisy air-conditioning compressors and refrigerators may soon be a thing of the past.
With the latest discovery by scientists from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), current cooling systems which uses refrigerant harmful to the ozone layer could be replaced by a revolutionary cooling system using lasers.
This discovery, published and featured on the cover of the 24 January 2013 issue of Nature, the world's top scientific journal, could also potentially lead to a host of other innovations. This includes making huge Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines, ...
Study finds little progress in participation of early-career RNs in hospital QI
2013-01-30
Nurses are the largest group of health care providers in the U.S., and health care leaders and experts agree that engaging registered nurses (RNs) in quality improvement (QI) efforts is essential to improving our health care system, patient care and our nation's health. Unfortunately, despite studies demonstrating the value of nurse-led quality improvement efforts, far too few nurses are involved in these efforts, and the number is not growing, according to a study published in the Journal of Nursing Care Quality.
The study—part of the RN Work Project funded by the Robert ...
Campus as laboratory: U-M student biologists use Diag trees to help solve gypsy moth mystery
2013-01-30
ANN ARBOR—Working beneath the towering oaks and maples on the University of Michigan's central campus Diag, undergraduate researchers and their faculty adviser helped explain an observation that had puzzled insect ecologists who study voracious leaf-munching gypsy moth caterpillars.
The caterpillars, which defoliate and sometimes kill stands of trees in the Upper Midwest and the Northeast, are especially fond of oaks, but sugar maple trees appear to be relatively resistant to the European pest.
Biologists wondered whether the caterpillars shun sugar maples in part because ...
5-year follow-up - over half of all ACL reconstructions could be avoided
2013-01-30
"We have continued with our study and for the first time are able to present a five-year follow-up on the need for and results of ACL surgery as compared with physiotherapy. The findings have been published in the British Medical Journal and are basically unchanged from 2010. This will no doubt surprise many people, as we have not seen any difference in the incidence of osteoarthritis", says Richard Frobell, one of the researchers behind the study, who is an associate professor at Lund University and a clinician at the orthopaedic department, Helsingborg Hospital.
Richard ...
New drug target identified for multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease
2013-01-30
(Boston)–Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) led by Carmela Abraham, PhD, professor of biochemistry, along with Cidi Chen, PhD, and other collaborators, report that the protein Klotho plays an important role in the health of myelin, the insulating material allowing for the rapid communication between nerve cells. These findings, which appear online in Journal of Neuroscience, may lead to new therapies for multiple sclerosis (MS) and Alzheimer's disease (AD), in which white matter abnormalities are also common but have been largely ignored.
MS is ...
Female deer take control during the mating season
2013-01-30
A new study provides the first evidence of polyandry – when females choose to mate with more than one male – in female fallow deer.
According to a team of scientists from Queen Mary, University of London, UWEHartpury, and University College Dublin, female fallow deer play an active role in selecting their mates, with a consistent proportion (on average 12 per cent) choosing to mate with multiple males each year.
"Until now there has been limited understanding of female mate choice during this process, with many people believing that female deer are controlled by males ...
Toward a better cyanide antidote for terrorist attacks and other mass casualty events
2013-01-30
In an advance toward closing a major gap in defenses against terrorist attacks and other mass casualty events, scientists are reporting discovery of a promising substance that could be the basis for development of a better antidote for cyanide poisoning. Their report, which describes a potential antidote that could be self-administered, much like the medication delivered by allergy injection pens, appears in ACS' Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.
Steven E. Patterson, Ph.D., and colleagues at the University of Minnesota Center for Drug Design explain that the only existing ...
Why some immigrants get citizenship
2013-01-30
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- For immigrants, the path to citizenship in many countries is filled with hurdles: finding a job, learning the language, passing exams. But for some people, the biggest obstacle of all may be one they cannot help: their country of origin.
That's one conclusion of a methodologically innovative study of European immigrants suggesting that, other qualifications being equal, migrants from certain countries may be roughly 40 percent less likely than others to gain citizenship.
Even if an immigrant has obtained a good education and job, and solid language ...
First mobile app for green chemistry fosters sustainable manufacturing of medicines
2013-01-30
Mention mobile applications, or mobile apps, and people think of games, email, news, weather, productivity and other software for Apple, Android and other smart phones and tablet computers. But an app with broader impact — the first mobile application to foster wider use of the environmentally friendly and sustainable principles of green chemistry — is the topic of a report in the American Chemical Society's new journal, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.
Sean Ekins, Alex M. Clark and Antony Williams point out that the companies that manufacture medicines, electronics ...
TV viewing and sedentary lifestyle in teens linked to disease risk in adulthood
2013-01-30
A team of scientists at Umeå University, in collaboration with colleagues in Melbourne, Australia, have found that television viewing and lack of exercise at age 16 is associated with the risk of developing metabolic syndrome at 43 years age.
Metabolic syndrome is a name for the disorder of metabolism - a combination of abdominal obesity, elevated blood lipids, hypertension and impaired glucose tolerance - which provides for a significantly increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, stroke and cardiovascular disease.
It has previously been shown that lack of physical ...