メディエイゴ

Researchers(1) at the University of Rochester have designed a gene(2) that produces a thousand times more protein(3) in cancer cells(4) than in healthy cells(5).

The findings may help address(6) the prime(7) challenge(8) in anti-cancer therapy(9): improving treatments' ability to specifically(10) and effectively(11) target(12) cancer cells. Using this new approach, scientists should be able to insert(13) "self-destruct(14)" codes(15) into the modified(16) gene, forcing cancer cells to kill themselves while healthy cells remain largely unaffected(17).

Though trials(18) will be necessary to determine if the difference is enough to destroy tumors(19) without harming healthy tissue(20), the initial findings, published in today's early edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences(21), are promising, say the authors.

Vera Gorbunova, assistant professor(22) of biology(23) at the University of Rochester, and her team, Andrei Seluanov, assistant professor of biology, and graduate student(24) Christopher Hine, were investigating Rad51(25), a protein that is expressed(26) at about five times higher level in cancer cells than in healthy cells, when they stumbled on(27) something very unexpected.

"We stripped off(28) some of the Rad51 gene and replaced it with a marker(29) protein DNA to see why Rad51 was five times more abundant(30) in cancer cells," says Gorbunova. "We wanted to see if there was any way we could boost that difference and create a really useful cancer-targeting(31) tool. We couldn't believe it when we saw the cancer cells expressing the engineered(32) Rad51 around a thousand times more."

When Gorbunova first saw the huge discrepancy(33), she thought one of her graduate students had fumbled(34) the lab test(35).