We believe that Memo1, by binding copper when needed, protects the cancer cells so that they can continue to live and spread," says Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede, who is one of the study's lead authors. "This poses a risk for the tumor to be dependent on a lot of copper because it can provoke chemical reactions that are harmful to the cancer cells. The researchers found that when Memo1 interacted with copper, the metal's toxic redox reactions were blocked. It's an important discovery because reduced copper, while it is needed in the body, also contributes to redox-reactions that damage – or even kill – the cells. It is this form of copper ions that is most common in living cells. They discovered that the protein binds copper, but only the reduced form of copper. In a new study published in the scientific journal PNAS, the researchers examined the Memo1 protein's ability to bind copper ions through a series of test tube experiments. Previous research has shown that when the gene for Memo1 is inactivated in breast cancer cells, their ability to form metastases decreases.Ī research group from Chalmers wanted to take a closer look at the connection between Memo1 and copper. A protein called Memo1 is part of the signaling systems that cancer cells use to grow and spread around the body. Most cancer-related deaths are due to the fact that metastases - secondary tumors - form in several places in the body, for example, in the liver or lungs. "Therefore, these proteins are highly important to study when it comes to understanding the development of cancer and deeper knowledge about them can lead to new targets for treatment of the disease," says Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede, Professor of Chemical Biology at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. Higher levels of copper also mean more active copper-binding proteins. Studies have shown that the level of copper in tumour cells and blood serum from cancer patients is elevated, and the conclusion is that cancer cells need more copper than healthy cells. Human cells need small amounts of the metal copper to be able to carry out vital biological processes. New research about how cancer-related proteins bind the metal and how they interact with other proteins, opens up potential new drug targets in the fight against cancer. For cancer cells to grow and spread around the human body, they need proteins that bind copper ions.
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