Researchers at the Frankfurt University Hospital have discovered a possible target molecule for new therapies against colon cancer: it is the enzyme transglutaminase 2. This protein controls the function of a tumor suppressor called p53, which plays a crucial role in the survival of cancer cells.
Sascha Zoske
Journalist in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.
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As the team led by Patrizia Malkomes and Michael Rieger found out, the activity of transglutaminase 2 is increased in intestinal tumor cells.
When the enzyme binds to p53, this control protein is deactivated.
This makes the cancer cells more resistant to chemotherapeutic agents and other external influences that would normally lead to cell death, as Rieger explains.
Mechanisms with which tumor cells can switch off p53 had already been known;
now we know another one with the transglutaminase pathway.
"Switch off the enzyme in colon cancer cells in a targeted manner"
According to Malkomes, an attempt is now to be made, on the one hand, to establish transglutaminase 2 as a new biomarker that shows how far colon cancer has progressed. In addition, possibilities are being sought to switch off the enzyme in cancer cells using drugs. “This could be a promising strategy for rapid application in patients.” More than 25,000 people die of colorectal cancer in Germany every year.