Research conducted by Michigan State University (MSU) researchers and the Van Andel Research Institute in Grand Rapids could help scientists find an “off switch” for cancer.
According to excerpts from the article:
Cancer cells divide uncontrollably and can move from one part of the body to another. They undergo dramatic shifts in shape when they do so, said Aaron DeWard, an MSU cell and molecular biology doctoral candidate who published his research recently in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. He’s trying to figure out how certain proteins trigger cell movement and division and how cancer hijacks the system to create genomic instability.
DeWard and his academic adviser, VARI senior scientific investigator Art Alberts, investigated proteins called formins that help determine the shape of a cell during division and movement. They identified a new mechanism for regulation of formins during cell division.
“One of the cool things about these proteins is that they’re tightly regulated – they will only do their jobs when they’re told to do so,” DeWard said, describing formins as the workers that put together the pieces that shape a cell.
Read the entire article here.
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