The BMP protein is an insurance against adenoma formation in the colon
Impact in the media of the study led by Eduard Batlle on the role of the BMP protein as a safety mechanism to restrict colon tumour formation. The article has been published in Nature Cell Biology.
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23 June 2014
The colon has a safety mechanism that restricts tumour formation
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Researchers at IRB Barcelona discover a new mechanism in estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer cells.
The inhibition of CPEB2, a key factor in the estrogen signalling pathway, causes cancer cells to proliferate less and protects mice against luminal breast cancer.
Several media channels have reported on the award of European Research Council funding to various projects being undertaken in Catalonia. Among these projects is that of Eduard Batlle, head of the Colorectal cancer Lab at IRB Barcelona. His research will focus on the hidden cells of the primary tumour that begin to spread before surgical intervention and that can remain undetectable for months or years until they seed a new tumour.
Batlle will study the distinct mechanisms through which these cells evade the immune system and invade another organ.
Published in the journal Nature Cancer, the study analyses how genetic alterations in tumour cells prevent the correct degradation of the proteins involved in tumour development and growth, thereby leading to abnormal cell behaviour.
A machine-learning model has allowed the scientists to obtain the most extensive annotation of the ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation system.
The analysis proposes a potential new clinical approach for cancer through the inhibition of oncoproteins with impaired degradation systems.
