Newly created peptide turns cancer friend into foe
Washington, October 8 : A team of American scientists has created a peptide that binds
to Bcl-2, a protein that protects cancer cells from programmed cell death, and converts it
into a cancer cell killer.
The progress made by scientists at Burnham Institute for Medical Research takes then a
step closer to creating new cancer treatments.
The Bcl-2 protein has long been implicated in protecting cancer cells from apoptosis,
the process that usually keeps cancer cells in check.
The researchers have revealed that the peptide called NuBCP-9, and its mirror-image
molecule work on Bcl-2 like a molecular switch, converting it into a pro-apoptotic
protein, and inducing cell death in cancer cells.
"Our results provide insight into Bcl-2 conversion and identify a new direction for
Bcl-2-based drug leads and cancer drug development," said Dr. Xiao-kun Zhang, who
co-authored the paper with Dr. Arnold Satterthwait and others.
The researchers created the NuBCP-9 peptide from Nur77, a potent pro-apoptotic
protein.
Nur77 often moves from the nucleus to mitochondria, in response to different death
signals, where it binds to Bcl-2, changing its shape and function.
--ANI
