" Researchers have identified a new mechanism that
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Posted On: 01/01/2017 1:58:04 PM
" Researchers have identified a new mechanism that the tumor suppressor protein p53 uses to trigger cell death via apoptosis and have shown how the process could be harnessed to kill cancer cells. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists led the study, which appears today in the scientific journal Molecular Cell.
Investigators showed how p53 acts in the cytoplasm to trigger cell death by binding to and activating a protein called BAX. Using the tools of structural biology, researchers discovered the process involves a shape change in one of p53’s amino acids that serves as the “switch” to activate BAX and trigger the suicide or apoptotic pathway. The scientists also identified the enzyme in the cytoplasm that promotes the change that controls the “switch.”
"P53 also exists in the cytoplasm. Previous research by St. Jude investigators and others suggested that p53 works there through the BAX protein to trigger programmed cell death or apoptosis. Until now, however, the mechanism involved was unknown.
“ These results expand our understanding of the different ways p53 modulates cell behavior. The findings also raise the possibility of killing tumor cells using small molecules to trigger BAX-dependent apoptosis,” said Richard Kriwacki, Ph.D., a member of the St. Jude Department of Structural Biology. Kriwacki and Douglas Green, Ph.D., chair of the St. Jude Department of Immunology, are co-corresponding authors.
https://www.stjude.org/media-resources/news-r...tment.html
Investigators showed how p53 acts in the cytoplasm to trigger cell death by binding to and activating a protein called BAX. Using the tools of structural biology, researchers discovered the process involves a shape change in one of p53’s amino acids that serves as the “switch” to activate BAX and trigger the suicide or apoptotic pathway. The scientists also identified the enzyme in the cytoplasm that promotes the change that controls the “switch.”
"P53 also exists in the cytoplasm. Previous research by St. Jude investigators and others suggested that p53 works there through the BAX protein to trigger programmed cell death or apoptosis. Until now, however, the mechanism involved was unknown.
“ These results expand our understanding of the different ways p53 modulates cell behavior. The findings also raise the possibility of killing tumor cells using small molecules to trigger BAX-dependent apoptosis,” said Richard Kriwacki, Ph.D., a member of the St. Jude Department of Structural Biology. Kriwacki and Douglas Green, Ph.D., chair of the St. Jude Department of Immunology, are co-corresponding authors.
https://www.stjude.org/media-resources/news-r...tment.html
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