How do proteins drive cancer development? Scientists solve the mystery

The latest research findings were published August 14 in a series of papers in the journals Cancer Cell and Cell. The researchers analyzed the proteins involved in it in detail tumor development process. Thanks to this, they deciphered their behavior in cancer cells.

As Dr. Li Ding of the University of Washington says, “In our efforts to… Developing better cancer treatmentsThis new analysis of proteins that drive tumor growth is the next step after sequencing the cancer genome.

She also added: – Thanks to our predecessors a job Sequencing the genomes of cancer cells We have identified nearly 300 cancer-causing genes. We are now exploring the details of the mechanism driven by oncogenes – the proteins and their regulatory networks that cause cells to divide uncontrollably. We hope that this analysis will serve as an important resource for cancer researchers who want to develop new therapies for many types of cancer.

In the course of their research, scientists have analyzed up to 10,000 proteinWhich have been implicated in the development of 10 different types of cancer: colorectal, kidney, ovarian, head and neck, breast, brain, uterine, pancreatic and two types of lung cancer.

– Many of these Cancer driver proteins are found in many types of cancerbut at a low frequency. When we analyze many species together, we increase our ability to discover important proteins that cause cancer to grow and spread. The combined analysis also allows us to identify the key common mechanisms that cause different types of cancer, Ding said.

At the same time, the analyzes carried out will allow scientists to understand how individual proteins interact with each other to drive the development of cancer. Specialists point out the possibility of disruption in their interactions A new method to inhibit tumor growth.

In addition, the researchers note that it is possible Chemical effects on proteins to change their jobs. It has been observed that the proteins are able to alter the way DNA is repaired, as well as alter immune responses, or the way DNA is “assembled”. All of these processes can be linked to the development of cancer.

The research results also revealed that a large number of mutations does not always lead to an increased number of abnormal proteins, which in turn become targets for the immune system as it tries to destroy tumors.

As Ding explains, “For some types of cancer, even with… mutations With the potential to generate tumor antigens, if there is no or very little abnormal protein expression, these mutations may be untreatable. This may explain why some patients do not respond to immunotherapy, even when it appears they should. Therefore, our proteomic studies incorporating tumor antigen expression profiles are particularly useful for designing novel immunotherapy targeting selected mutations.

Ding concludes, “Overall, this in-depth analysis of proteomic and chemical alterations in many types of cancer – combined with our many years of knowledge of the cancer genome – provides another layer of information that we hope will help answer many current questions about this cancer.” .” How cancer grows and manages to evade many of our best treatments.

The results of the research were published in the journal Cancer Cell (doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2023.07.013; doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2023.06.009) and in the cell (doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.07.013).