Scientists at NUI Galway have identified a protein in cancer cells which could pave the way for the development of new treatments for serious illnesses.
Professor Afshin Samali who is leading the team of scientists at the department of biochemistry found that a protein produced in stressed cells interacts with a stress sensor that allows cells to survive in intense conditions.
Prof Samali says that developing an understanding of this interaction could greatly benefit scientists in modifying cancer cells to ensure that they no longer survive exposure in similar conditions.
Prof Samali says these findings could be hugely significant in the development of new cancer drugs, which would encourage tumour cell death by blocking the Hsp70 protein. Prof Samali who has been working on the Hsp70 protein since 1993, says that alternatively increasing the levels of Hsp70 could improve the survival rates of cells in stressful conditions, and this could be extremely beneficial in the treatment of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, and diabetes.
Prof Samali says: “Healthy cells are not usually under stress, but unhealthy cells such as cancer cells are often under considerable stress because they grow rapidly in places where they are not supposed to grow. When a cell is under these stressful conditions, the stress protein Hsp70 is activated to help the cell. By interfering with this protein-protein interaction, we hope to develop a new class of anti-cancer drugs. This work was funded by Science Foundation Ireland and will have a significant impact on cancer research and drug design.”
