Researchers have discovered new details on how specific proteins spur cancer growth – CTV
April 27, 2023
A new study from McGill University is taking science one step closer to understanding how metastatic cancer spreads through the body, something researchers hope could lead to new treatments.
Researchers dug into the function of specific proteins — called phosphates of regenerating liver (PRLs) — which appear in countless creatures from humans to fruit flies, in order to track how they facilitate cancer growth.
Previous research has demonstrated that these proteins, which play a role in cell growth and metabolism, show up in overwhelming numbers in some cancers.
“It’s important for us to study PRLs because they are so important in cancer,” Dr. Kalle Gehring, professor of biochemistry and founding director of the McGill Centre for Structural Biology, said in a press release. “In some cancers, like metastatic colorectal cancer, the proteins are overexpressed up to 300-fold.”
