Scientist stumbles on significant cancer clue

A Sydney scientist, setting out to observe the inner workings of a cancer cell made an unexpected discovery that should lead to improved treatment for cancer. Scientists at the Children’s Medical Research Institute, have for the first time, discovered a molecule that switches off one of the key mechanisms that allows cancer cells to multiply unchecked.

The remarkable results are the work of Dr Wei-Qin Jiang and his colleagues at the Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI) and will be published in Molecular & Cellular Biology on 1st April.

“Dr Jiang wanted to track the movements of some large doughnut-shaped structures that are found in the nuclei of some cancer cells. To do this, he added a fluorescent green tag to a protein called Sp100 that is found in the doughnuts and watched their movements using a microscope. To our complete surprise, what he found was that the extra Sp100 protein switched off a key cancer cell survival mechanism,” said Dr Roger Reddel, head of Cancer Research at CMRI.

One of the ways that cells become cancerous is by activating a mechanism called ALT, which was originally discovered by the CMRI cancer research team. ALT allows the cancer cells to avoid the normal barriers to unlimited cell growth, a hallmark of cancer.

The CMRI team suspected that the doughnut structures contributed to the ALT process, so visualising it all happening was the next step to take. Dr Reddel adds, “Tagging the Sp100 protein had a completely unanticipated, and very welcome outcome.”

Dr Reddel explains, “The ALT mechanism is used by about 10% of all cancers, especially the most common form of brain tumour in adults, and osteosarcomas, which are cancers of the bone that particularly affect teenagers and young adults. Discovering how to turn off ALT is a major clue toward developing a treatment for these cancers.”

This exciting research has received major long-term support from The Cancer Council NSW and CMRI’s Jeans for Genes campaign.