samtsai.com

An interesting article. PAC-1, an organic synthetic molecule, is capable of changing procaspase-3 into caspase-3, which is required to signal apoptosis (self-death) of cancer cells. This transformation of procaspase-3 into caspase-3 is absent in cancer cells, leading to non-stop proliferation. Kewl~

This research is in the stage of pre-clinical trial, though. Still a long way to go. More research is needed.

PAC-1, a synthetic molecule, causes cancer self-destruction.

Scientists have developed a way of “executing” cancer cells.
Healthy cells have a built-in process which means they commit suicide if something is wrong, a process which fails in cancer cells.

The University of Illinois team created a synthetic molecule which caused cancer cells to self-destruct.

Cancer experts said the study, in Nature Chemical Biology, offered “exciting possibilities” for new ways of treating the disease.

One of the hallmarks of cancer cells is their resistance to the body’s cell suicide signals, which allow them to survive and develop into tumours.

All cells contain a protein called procaspase-3, which the body should be able to turn into caspase-3 - an executioner enzyme.

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They found the molecule PAC-1 did trigger the transformation, and cancer cells from mice and from human tumours could be prompted to self-destruct - a process called apoptosis.

Read more on: bbc.co.uk

Here is another article that I think explains more thoroughly what PAC-1 does.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Scientists have found a way to trick cancer cells into committing suicide. The novel technique potentially offers an effective method of providing personalized anti-cancer therapy. Most living cells contain a protein called procaspase-3, which, when activated, changes into the executioner enzyme caspase-3 and initiates programmed cell death, called apoptosis. In cancer cells, however, the signaling pathway to procaspase-3 is broken. As a result, cancer cells escape destruction and grow into tumors.

“We have identified a small, synthetic compound that directly activates procaspase-3 and induces apoptosis,” said Paul J. Hergenrother, a professor of chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and corresponding author of a paper to be posted online this week ahead of regular publication by the journal Nature Chemical Biology. “By bypassing the broken pathway, we can use the cells’ own machinery to destroy themselves.”

To find the compound, called procaspase activating compound one (PAC-1), Hergenrother, with colleagues at the U. of I., Seoul National University, and the National Center for Toxicological Research, screened more than 20,000 structurally diverse compounds for the ability to change procaspase-3 into caspase-3.

The researchers tested the compound’s efficacy in cell cultures and in three mouse models of cancer. The testing was performed in collaboration with William Helferich, a professor of food science and human nutrition at the U. of I., and Myung-Haing Cho at Seoul National University. The researchers also showed that PAC-1 killed cancer cells in 23 tumors obtained from a local hospital.

Cell death was correlated with the level of procaspase-3 present in the cells, with more procaspase-3 resulting in cell death at lower concentrations of PAC-1.

Read more on: eurekalert.org

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