Targets for cancer therapy initially were very specific cell division targets. Nowadays, the targets have become very cancer specific, for e.g. targeting the BCR-ABL to target Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. However, a scientist in Australia has come up with a target that is very unlikely – tropomyosin.
Tropomyosin is a protein that along with actin is responsible for cellular structure. It is present in every cell and is an important requirement for the survival of the cell.
Dr Gunning has found differences in tropomyosin between the heart and cancer cells and has developed drug therapy in his lab that causes the cellular structure of cancer cell to specifically break down. Tropomyosin and actin together can specifically work as a sensor for apoptosis. Thus creating specific drugs that modulate the tropomyosin inside the cancer cell can affect the cancer specifically.
However, though the tropomyosin in the heart maybe different from that in the cancer cell, it remains to be seen how the therapy can spare normal cells and specifically kill cancer cells.
Watch the video and then Read more about the work in the link below.
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