Chemo-Resistant Cancer

Research at LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans has led to the discovery of a protein in cancer cells that causes the cells to be chemotherapy resistant. The protein "enables the activation of a DNA-repair enzyme that protects cancer cells from catastrophic damage caused by chemo and radiation therapy." The protein is called c-MYC oncoprotein, and it can initiate and promote almost all human cancers. The research team led by Daitoku Sakamuro, PhD, designed a set of experiments using the chemotherapy drug cisplatin, which is commonly used in first-line therapy for various cancers. They found that the c-MYC oncoprotein "increases cisplatin resistance by decreasing production of a c-MYC inhibitor called BIN1." BIN1 suppresses an enzyme essential for DNA repair in cancer cells; therefore, the sensitivity of cancer cells to chemo greatly depends on BIN1 abundance. Overproduction of c-MYC repressed BIN1, taking away its life-saving action. So basically, more c-MYC oncoprotein --> less BIN1 --> more enzymes leading to more DNA repair of cancer cells --> ineffectiveness of cisplatin chemotherapy.

I found this article interesting because of my interest in cancer research. The American Cancer Society estimates that 1,529,560 new cancer cases were expected to be diagnosed in the United States alone, and cancer accounts for about 25% of all deaths annually in the US. If researchers can find a way to inhibit the c-MYC oncoprotein, a good portion of those lives can be saved with basic chemotherapy like cisplatin!

This article was found on BiologyNews, but the main work was published in Science Signaling on March 29, 2011.