Academia Sinica yesterday unveiled the results of its research into the effects a protein complex has on the development of colorectal cancer, providing a possible solution to the treatment of the disease, which is the most common cancer in the nation.
Meng Tzu-ching (孟子青), a research fellow at the institute, said colorectal cancer is triggered by the mutation of the Kristen ras (K-Ras) gene, which regulates cell division.
He said that research in the past had determined that the dephosphorylation of protein kinase 12 is directly related to the spreading of colorectal cancer cells, but scientists were not able to validate a widely-held hypothesis that links the process to the effects of tyrosine phosphatase N3 (PTPN3).
Drawing upon concepts in structural biology, the team — led by research fellow Andrew Wang (王惠鈞) and comprising Chen Kai-en (陳凱恩) and Meng — devised a hybrid methodology, whereby they successfully created the PTPN3-protein kinase 12 complex.
By observing the interactions between the two proteins found inside the human body, they discovered that early-stage colorectal cancer degenerates and goes out of control when PTPN3 aggravated by the mutation of K-Ras comes into an abnormally high level of contact with protein kinase 12, through which process the PTTN3 “bites into” the protein kinase 12, the researchers said.
Furthermore, with the help of the hybrid methodology — which determines the protein complex’s outline through small-angle X-ray scattering, its structure through X-ray crystallography, and the connecting points between the proteins through chemical cross-linking/mass spectrometry — the team was able to create the protein complex, by which they confirmed the hypothesis that the dephosphorylation of protein kinase 12 was caused by PTTN3.
Wang said the ability to identify the points of linkage between the two proteins is especially helpful to developing new therapies and drugs to combat the cancer, which could help develop new methods to cut off the pathway by which PTTN3 comes into contact with protein kinase 12, instead of targeting the mutated gene, as most drugs do, which causes many side effects and inflicts more pain on the patient because it affects the normal functions of the gene.
The findings could be a major step forward for cancer therapeutic drugs, he added.
The trio’s work was the cover story of the Oct. 14 version of the Science Signaling journal.
Statistics published by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in April put colorectal cancer on the top of a list of 10 most common cancers in the nation, with a person contracting the disease every 50 minutes.
The cancer has topped the list for six consecutive years, statistics showed.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS