[extropy-chat] New way to lock DNA-slicing enzyme onto chromosomes could lead to novel anti-cancer drugs

[Giu1i0 Pri5c0]

>From EurekAlert: Investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have
discovered a new way that an enzyme crucial to the cell's ability to decode
genes and duplicate chromosomes can be turned into a poison inside cancer
cells. The discovery is an important step toward designing a new class of
anti-cancer drugs. Such drugs might be given with an existing agent that
also targets this enzyme, creating a one-two punch against both solid tumors
and leukemia, according to the researchers.
The enzyme, called Topoisomerase 1 (Top 1), is crucial to the cell's ability
to unwind the DNA of chromosomes and separate the two strands making up a
giant molecule. This activity permits the cell to transcribe (decode)
specific genes or to make a copy of the entire chromosome. Duplication of
chromosomes is critical to the process called mitosis, or cell division.
After the cell divides, each daughter cell receives a copy of the entire set
of duplicated chromosomes. Modifying Top 1 so it became locked onto the DNA
molecule was enough to cause cell death.
This differs from the way a currently used anti-cancer drug, camptothecin
(CPT), works. CPT works only during the part of the cell's life cycle called
S phase, when the cell synthesizes duplicate chromosomes. Because the new
strategy can work whether the cell is in S phase or just decoding a single
gene, a drug based on this approach could be particularly versatile.
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