Newly created peptide turns cancer friend into foe
October 8th, 2008 - 12:15 pm ICT by ANI Washington, October 8 (ANI): A team of American scientists has created a peptide that binds to Bcl-2, a protein that protects cancer cells from programmed cell death, and converts it into a cancer cell killer.
The progress made by scientists at Burnham Institute for Medical Research takes then a step closer to creating new cancer treatments.
The Bcl-2 protein has long been implicated in protecting cancer cells from apoptosis, the process that usually keeps cancer cells in check.
The researchers have revealed that the peptide called NuBCP-9, and its mirror-image molecule work on Bcl-2 like a molecular switch, converting it into a pro-apoptotic protein, and inducing cell death in cancer cells.
Our results provide insight into Bcl-2 conversion and identify a new direction for Bcl-2-based drug leads and cancer drug development, said Dr. Xiao-kun Zhang, who co-authored the paper with Dr. Arnold Satterthwait and others.
The researchers created the NuBCP-9 peptide from Nur77, a potent pro-apoptotic protein.
Nur77 often moves from the nucleus to mitochondria, in response to different death signals, where it binds to Bcl-2, changing its shape and function.
A report on this study has been published in the journal Cancer Cell. (ANI)
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Tags: american scientists, apoptotic, bcl 2, burnham institute for medical research, cancer cell, cancer cells, cancer drug development, dr arnold, foe, journal cancer, mirror image, molecular switch, molecule, new cancer treatments, new direction, nucleus, october 8, peptide, programmed cell death, xiao
