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Scientists have solved a long-standing mystery surrounding a cancer-promoting protein and how it causes tumor growth. The findings are an important step in the quest to make cancer drugs more effective since aggressive tumors often become adept at resisting drugs and other therapeutic agents.
The recent discovery by a team of scientists including , an investigator at Huntsman Cancer Institute at the (the U) and assistant professor of oncological sciences at the U, is published today in the journal , and builds upon his previous research into drug resistance. 鈥淥ur findings suggest some new strategies that we might be able to use in the clinic to be able to improve patient outcomes,鈥 says Myers.
The research team studied a protein called Smoothened that plays vital roles in healthy tissue and organ development. However, when Smoothened becomes overactive, it can trigger the formation and spread of brain and skin tumors. Blocking Smoothened can stop cancer from spreading, but eventually tumors adapt, making this approach ineffective. Medulloblastoma is the most common pediatric brain tumor in the U.S., and basal cell carcinoma is the most common cancer in the U.S. with about 3.6 million cases every year.
Smoothened is part of a signaling pathway in the body. A signaling pathway is like a telephone wire that runs from the cell surface to the interior of the cell. The messages that travel along that wire provide instructions to the cell.
鈥淲e knew the 鈥榯elephone wire鈥 existed but we had no idea how it worked. That has left a big gap in our ability to turn it off therapeutically to treat cancer,鈥 Myers says. 鈥淭he hope is that by better understanding it, cancer drugs will become far more effective.鈥
These findings explain how Smoothened gets switched on at a molecular level and what the transmitted signal is.
Myers says the undergraduate biology students who worked in his lab were pivotal to this discovery. He鈥檇 also like to acknowledge key trainees John Happ, Corvin Arveseth, and Isaac Nelson, as well as the postdoctoral students essential in his research. Key collaborators include Susan Taylor, PhD, University of California, San Diego, Friedrich Herberg, PhD, University of Kassel, Germany, and Gianluigi Veglia, PhD, University of Minnesota.
The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health and Huntsman Cancer Foundation.
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About Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah
Huntsman Cancer Institute at the is the National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center for Utah, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Wyoming. With a legacy of innovative cancer research, groundbreaking discoveries, and world-class patient care, we are transforming the way cancer is understood, prevented, diagnosed, treated, and survived. Huntsman Cancer Institute focuses on delivering the most advanced cancer healing and prevention through scientific breakthroughs and cutting-edge technology to advance cancer treatments of the future beyond the standard of care today. We have more than 300 open clinical trials and 250 research teams studying cancer. More genes for inherited cancers have been discovered at Huntsman Cancer Institute than at any other cancer center. Our scientists are world-renowned for understanding how cancer begins and using that knowledge to develop innovative approaches to treat each patient鈥檚 unique disease. Huntsman Cancer Institute was founded by Jon M. and Karen Huntsman.