Academia Sinica yesterday unveiled the results of its research into the effects a protein complex has on the development of colorectal cancer, providing a possible solution to the treatment of the disease, which is the most common cancer in the nation.
Meng Tzu-ching (孟子青), a research fellow at the institute, said colorectal cancer is triggered by the mutation of the Kristen ras (K-Ras) gene, which regulates cell division.
He said that research in the past had determined that the dephosphorylation of protein kinase 12 is directly related to the spreading of colorectal cancer cells, but scientists were not able to validate a widely-held hypothesis that links the process to the effects of tyrosine phosphatase N3 (PTPN3).
Drawing upon concepts in structural biology, the team — led by research fellow Andrew Wang (王惠鈞) and comprising Chen Kai-en (陳凱恩) and Meng — devised a hybrid methodology, whereby they successfully created the PTPN3-protein kinase 12 complex.
By observing the interactions between the two proteins found inside the human body, they discovered that early-stage colorectal cancer degenerates and goes out of control when PTPN3 aggravated by the mutation of K-Ras comes into an abnormally high level of contact with protein kinase 12, through which process the PTTN3 “bites into” the protein kinase 12, the researchers said.
Furthermore, with the help of the hybrid methodology — which determines the protein complex’s outline through small-angle X-ray scattering, its structure through X-ray crystallography, and the connecting points between the proteins through chemical cross-linking/mass spectrometry — the team was able to create the protein complex, by which they confirmed the hypothesis that the dephosphorylation of protein kinase 12 was caused by PTTN3.
Wang said the ability to identify the points of linkage between the two proteins is especially helpful to developing new therapies and drugs to combat the cancer, which could help develop new methods to cut off the pathway by which PTTN3 comes into contact with protein kinase 12, instead of targeting the mutated gene, as most drugs do, which causes many side effects and inflicts more pain on the patient because it affects the normal functions of the gene.
The findings could be a major step forward for cancer therapeutic drugs, he added.
The trio’s work was the cover story of the Oct. 14 version of the Science Signaling journal.
Statistics published by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in April put colorectal cancer on the top of a list of 10 most common cancers in the nation, with a person contracting the disease every 50 minutes.
The cancer has topped the list for six consecutive years, statistics showed.
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