Cancer Cell 'Bodyguard' Turned Into Killer

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ScienceDaily (Dec. 1, 2008) - If you're a cancer cell, you want a protein called

Bcl-2 on your side because it decides if you live or die. It's usually a trusted

bodyguard, protecting cancer cells from programmed death and allowing them to

grow and form tumors. But sometimes it turns into their assassin. " First, it may

lead to a therapy that could potentially be used against many types of cancer, "

she said. " The reason for that is because it targets Bcl-2, and Bcl-2 is

expressed in many types of cancers. So it could be useful in breast cancer and

other carcinomas and leukemia, for example.

Dr. Hockenbery, a member of the Clinical Research Division at the Fred

Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Wash., said that this new way of

altering a protein so it injures a cell rather than merely disables it " is very

unusual. " He added that this finding would spur researchers to develop drugs or

stable peptides that act on Bcl-2 at the Nur77 binding site.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081125113114.htm

Adapted from materials provided by Oregon State University

Blessings,

Lottie