'This basic research set the grounds for structure-based drug design approaches that could be beneficial for cancer treatments' - Dr. Cyril Dominguez, University of Leicester
A team from the University of Leicester has for the first time published a detailed description of a protein linked to many types of cancer.
The lab-based study from the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology now provides an opportunity for scientists to develop drugs to target this protein.
Dr Cyril Dominguez who led the work at Leicester said: "My research field is structural biology. The proteins that we have studied, called Sam68 and T-STAR, are very similar and overexpression of Sam68 has been shown to correlate with poor prognosis in many types of cancers.
"Our results provide atomic resolution details on how Sam68 binds specifically to its RNA target. Furthermore, we show that Sam68 forms a homodimer that has never been described before and is crucial for its function in RNA splicing.
"This is important because this basic research set the grounds for structure-based drug design approaches. If we can identify or design drugs that bind specifically at the dimerization interface, we will be able to prevent the function of these proteins in cells, which could have implications for novel cancer treatments.
"Now that we have a high-resolution structure of Sam68 and T-STAR and a high-throughput binding assay, we are in discussion to collaborate with a major drug discovery consortium to screen a very large library of compounds to inhibit the function of Sam68."
Dr Dominguez's work has been published in Nature Communications. He said: "Thanks to an MRC Career Development Award, I started my own research lab in 2010, and we were in competition with other well-established laboratories. This article is therefore the consecration of our hard work during the last five years."
###
The work has been funded by an MRC Career Development Award to Cyril Dominguez (G1000526) that started in October 2010 and finished in September 2015, and a studentship from the College of Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology of the University of Leicester. This work is the result of a very fruitful collaboration with the groups of Professor David Elliot (University of Newcastle), Professor Michael Sattler (Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen, Munich) and Professor Ian Eperon (University of Leicester).
It is published here: http://www.
You can also view a copy here: https:/
NOTES TO EDITORS
For more information, please contact
Dr. Cyril Dominguez
Lecturer
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
University of Leicester
e: cd180@le.ac.uk
w: http://www2.
The Medical Research Council is at the forefront of scientific discovery to improve human health. Founded in 1913 to tackle tuberculosis, the MRC now invests taxpayers' money in some of the best medical research in the world across every area of health. Thirty-one MRC-funded researchers have won Nobel prizes in a wide range of disciplines, and MRC scientists have been behind such diverse discoveries as vitamins, the structure of DNA and the link between smoking and cancer, as well as achievements such as pioneering the use of randomised controlled trials, the invention of MRI scanning, and the development of a group of antibodies used in the making of some of the most successful drugs ever developed. Today, MRC-funded scientists tackle some of the greatest health problems facing humanity in the 21st century, from the rising tide of chronic diseases associated with ageing to the threats posed by rapidly mutating micro-organisms. http://www.
Dr. Cyril Dominguez | EurekAlert!
Enduring cold temperatures alters fat cell epigenetics
19.04.2018 | University of Tokyo
Full of hot air and proud of it
18.04.2018 | University of Pittsburgh
Study published in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces is the outcome of an international effort that included teams from Dresden and Berlin in Germany, and the US.
Scientists at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) together with colleagues from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and the University of Virginia...
Novel highly efficient and brilliant gamma-ray source: Based on model calculations, physicists of the Max PIanck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg propose a novel method for an efficient high-brilliance gamma-ray source. A giant collimated gamma-ray pulse is generated from the interaction of a dense ultra-relativistic electron beam with a thin solid conductor. Energetic gamma-rays are copiously produced as the electron beam splits into filaments while propagating across the conductor. The resulting gamma-ray energy and flux enable novel experiments in nuclear and fundamental physics.
The typical wavelength of light interacting with an object of the microcosm scales with the size of this object. For atoms, this ranges from visible light to...
Stable joint cartilage can be produced from adult stem cells originating from bone marrow. This is made possible by inducing specific molecular processes occurring during embryonic cartilage formation, as researchers from the University and University Hospital of Basel report in the scientific journal PNAS.
Certain mesenchymal stem/stromal cells from the bone marrow of adults are considered extremely promising for skeletal tissue regeneration. These adult stem...
In the fight against cancer, scientists are developing new drugs to hit tumor cells at so far unused weak points. Such a “sore spot” is the protein complex...
In an article that appears in the journal “Review of Modern Physics”, researchers at the Laboratory for Attosecond Physics (LAP) assess the current state of the field of ultrafast physics and consider its implications for future technologies.
Physicists can now control light in both time and space with hitherto unimagined precision. This is particularly true for the ability to generate ultrashort...
Anzeige
Anzeige
Invitation to the upcoming "Current Topics in Bioinformatics: Big Data in Genomics and Medicine"
13.04.2018 | Event News
Unique scope of UV LED technologies and applications presented in Berlin: ICULTA-2018
12.04.2018 | Event News
IWOLIA: A conference bringing together German Industrie 4.0 and French Industrie du Futur
09.04.2018 | Event News
19.04.2018 | Materials Sciences
Electromagnetic wizardry: Wireless power transfer enhanced by backward signal
19.04.2018 | Physics and Astronomy
Ultrafast electron oscillation and dephasing monitored by attosecond light source
19.04.2018 | Physics and Astronomy