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Posted on Apr 18, 2005, 8 p.m.
By Bill Freeman
Newswise
Newswise &emdash; A natural tumor suppressor that could potentially be turned on in certain cancer cells to prevent the formation of tumors has been discovered by researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine.
Located on chromosome 18 and called PH domain Leucine-rich repeat Protein Phosphatase (PHLPP, pronounced “flip”), the tumor suppressor is described in the April 1, 2005 issue of the journal Molecular Cell. The scientists demonstrated that PHLPP deletes a phosphate molecule, causing termination of cell-growth signaling by a protein called Akt that controls the balance between cell growth leading to cancer and cell death that prevents tumor formation.
“A drug that turns on PHLPP, so that it suppresses cell growth caused by Akt, could be a potential cancer therapy,” said the study’s senior author, Alexandra C. Newton, Ph.D., UCSD professor of pharmacology. “Currently there are no compounds identified to directly stop Akt from causing cancer growth, once Akt signaling has been initiated.”
Scientists have known that Akt is critical in regulating cell growth and death, and that it is linked to some of the most common human cancers. Although one group of scientists discovered a molecule called PTEN*, which prevents activation of Akt, no one to date had determined how to directly turn off Akt once it has been activated.
Located on chromosome 18 and called PH domain Leucine-rich repeat Protein Phosphatase (PHLPP, pronounced “flip”), the tumor suppressor is described in the April 1, 2005 issue of the journal Molecular Cell. The scientists demonstrated that PHLPP deletes a phosphate molecule, causing termination of cell-growth signaling by a protein called Akt that controls the balance between cell growth leading to cancer and cell death that prevents tumor formation.
“A drug that turns on PHLPP, so that it suppresses cell growth caused by Akt, could be a potential cancer therapy,” said the study’s senior author, Alexandra C. Newton, Ph.D., UCSD professor of pharmacology. “Currently there are no compounds identified to directly stop Akt from causing cancer growth, once Akt signaling has been initiated.”
Scientists have known that Akt is critical in regulating cell growth and death, and that it is linked to some of the most common human cancers. Although one group of scientists discovered a molecule called PTEN*, which prevents activation of Akt, no one to date had determined how to directly turn off Akt once it has been activated.
