Protein kills cancer cells - Shorts - Brief Article

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients,  June, 2003  by Jule Klotter

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

The enzyme Cox-2, which is found in large amounts in some cancers, is necessary for blood vessel development. Blocking Cox2 action and, thereby, preventing the generation of new blood vessels is viewed as a way to prevent cancer cells from growing. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, MO) have identified a protein called CUGBP2 that regulates Cox-2 production, according to a BBC news report (25 January 2003). Professor Brian Dieckgraef, co-author of the article published in Molecular Cell, said, "CUGBP2 levels were significantly lower in every single tumour we studied."

The researchers attached CUGBP2 to mRNA (messenger RNA) for Cox-2 in eight types of human cancer cells. mRNA tells a cell when to produce a protein specified by the DNA. Attaching CUGBP2 to the mRNA for Cox-2 prevented cancer cells from making the enzyme, and the cancer cells died. The researchers are now investigating the effect of CUGBP2 on tumors. Since normal cells produce large amounts of CUGBP2, the researchers see this protein as being a way to destroy cancer cells without affecting healthy ones. "Human testing may be possible in a few years," according to the BEG News.

Protein 'makes cancer coils self-destruct' BBC News, 25 January 2003. http:// news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi//health/266921p.stm

COPYRIGHT 2003 The Townsend Letter Group
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group