Post by monami on Feb 9, 2015 16:55:48 GMT -5
What Autism Can Teach Us About Brain Cancer
Both disorders involve faults in the same protein
Release Date: February 9, 2015
Applying lessons learned from autism to brain cancer, researchers at The Johns Hopkins University have discovered why elevated levels of the protein NHE9 add to the lethality of the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer, glioblastoma. Their discovery suggests that drugs designed to target NHE9 could help to successfully fight the deadly disease.
A summary of their work in human tumor cells and mice will be published on Feb. 9 in the journal Nature Communications.
“My laboratory’s research on cargo transport inside the cells of patients with autism has led to a new strategy for treating a deadly brain cancer,” says Rajini Rao, Ph.D., a professor of physiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “This is a great example of the unexpected good that can come from going wherever the science takes us.”
All animal and human cells contain many “cargo packages” surrounded by membranes. These so-called endosomes carry newly minted proteins to specific destinations throughout the cell and haul away old proteins for destruction. Key to their “shipping speed” is the level of acidity inside the endosomes. This is controlled by balancing the activity of protein “pumps” that push protons into endosomes to increase their acidity with that of protein “leaks,” like NHE9, that remove protons.
Rao says: “Endosomes are like buckets of water that have to be kept full despite the leaks in them. Altering either the faucet or the leak rate can dramatically change the water level in the bucket.”
www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/what_autism_can_teach_us_about_brain_cancer
Both disorders involve faults in the same protein
Release Date: February 9, 2015
Applying lessons learned from autism to brain cancer, researchers at The Johns Hopkins University have discovered why elevated levels of the protein NHE9 add to the lethality of the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer, glioblastoma. Their discovery suggests that drugs designed to target NHE9 could help to successfully fight the deadly disease.
A summary of their work in human tumor cells and mice will be published on Feb. 9 in the journal Nature Communications.
“My laboratory’s research on cargo transport inside the cells of patients with autism has led to a new strategy for treating a deadly brain cancer,” says Rajini Rao, Ph.D., a professor of physiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “This is a great example of the unexpected good that can come from going wherever the science takes us.”
All animal and human cells contain many “cargo packages” surrounded by membranes. These so-called endosomes carry newly minted proteins to specific destinations throughout the cell and haul away old proteins for destruction. Key to their “shipping speed” is the level of acidity inside the endosomes. This is controlled by balancing the activity of protein “pumps” that push protons into endosomes to increase their acidity with that of protein “leaks,” like NHE9, that remove protons.
Rao says: “Endosomes are like buckets of water that have to be kept full despite the leaks in them. Altering either the faucet or the leak rate can dramatically change the water level in the bucket.”
www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/what_autism_can_teach_us_about_brain_cancer