A research team at Chalmers found that a protein that binds to copper ions is needed for cancer cells to grow and spread throughout the body. This has led to the discovery of potential new therapeutic targets on the interactions between proteins and how they bind metals to cancer-related proteins.
Human cells require trace amounts of the element copper to perform essential functions. biological processes, The researchers concluded that cancer cells require more copper than healthy cells. Furthermore, as copper levels increase, more copper-binding proteins are activated.
Professor Pernilla Wittung-Stafschede, Professor of Chemical Biology at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, said, “Therefore, it is extremely important to study these proteins when it comes to understanding cancer development and a deeper knowledge about them is important for the treatment of cancer.” may lead to new goals. Disease,”
majority of cancer deaths These are caused by metastases, or secondary tumors, that form in many places throughout the body, such as the liver or lungs. Memo1 is a protein that is part of a signaling system that cancer cells use to grow and spread throughout the body.
Previous researchers have shown that inactivation of the Memo1 gene in breast cancer cells reduces their ability to form metastases.
Researchers were interested to know the connection between copper and MeMO. They investigated the ability of the Memo1 protein to bind copper ions using a series of test tube experiments. They found that the protein binds only to copper in its reduced form. This is an important finding because, despite being required by the body, low copper contributes to redox events that damage or even kill cells. They found that when MeMO1 interacted with copper, it inhibited harmful redox reactions.
“We looked at how copper ions could move between the Memo1 and Atox1 proteins in a test tube, and when we looked in breast cancer cells, we found that the two proteins were close to each other in space. Based on this, we conclude that exchange between these proteins may occur in copper cancer cells as well as in test tubes and thus may be of biological relevance.”
Talking about the research findings, Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede said, “We looked at how copper ions can move between Proteins Memo1 and Atox1 In test tubes, and when we looked at breast cancer cells, we found that the two proteins were close to each other in space. Based on this, we conclude that copper exchange between these proteins may occur in cancer cells as well as in test tubes and thus may have biological relevance.”
“As we expand our basic knowledge about the role of copper-binding proteins in cancer cells, we also open the door to new therapies,” she said.
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