Key cancer enzyme ?
July 31st, 2007 by SecureCare“Working with human colorectal cancer cells, a [university research team]…has found the potential culprit among a network of enzymes that relay signals inside cells to regulate such functions as cell growth, cancer development and programmed cell death. The work suggests that drugs designed to disable the enzyme, known as TOPK, could have anti-cancer benefits…“Colorectal [cancer] is the second leading cause of cancer mortality, and the molecular pathways [by which it develops] remain incompletely understood…In this study, we provided evidence showing that TOPK promotes transformation [of normal cells to cancerous ones] in colorectal carcinoma.”
The story begins with the frequent observation by researchers that members of this enzyme network are overactive in the cells of several human cancers…” Full Slice
July 31st, 2007 at 3:23 pm
It’s important to remember that there are lots of things gone wrong with cancer cells, and what may seem to work one way in cell culture may work a very different way in actual tissue.
What follows is pure speculation.
It would be interesting to find out that TOPK is widely conserved and ONLY active in cancer cells. It would suggest that evolution has determined that limiting the number of offspring a member of a sexual species can have is ultimately beneficial to that species. What death pathway will then be invoked once TOPK is silenced? And finally, if we can get around this supposed pathway, then who is cleverer, evolution or its product, us?