Riverside, California – Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have made a significant breakthrough in cancer treatment by developing a peptide that has the potential to control MYC, a protein that plays a key role in the majority of human cancers. This discovery offers new hope for targeting cancer at a molecular level, leading to more effective treatments.
MYC is responsible for exacerbating the majority of human cancer cases. In healthy cells, MYC helps guide the process of transcription, converting genetic information from DNA into RNA, and eventually into proteins. However, in cancer cells, MYC becomes hyperactive and is not regulated properly, leading to uncontrolled cell growth. This makes MYC a contributing factor in 75% of all human cancer cases.
The research team at UC Riverside believed that if they could dampen MYC’s hyperactivity, it could potentially lead to a breakthrough in controlling cancer. However, the challenge was finding a way to control MYC since it lacks a definite structure, making it more difficult to target using conventional drug discovery methods.
In a recent article published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the researchers described a peptide compound that binds to MYC and suppresses its activity. They found that by changing the rigidity and shape of the peptide, it improved its ability to interact with structureless protein targets such as MYC. This discovery significantly improved the binding performance of the peptide, bringing it closer to the team’s drug development goals.
The researchers are now working on using lipid nanoparticles to deliver the peptide into cells, as it binds to MYC, changing its physical properties and preventing it from performing transcription activities. This innovative approach to drug discovery has the potential to revolutionize cancer treatment.
The project is partly funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, congressionally directed medical research, and the National Institutes of Health. By developing molecular tools to better understand biology, the research team at UC Riverside is paving the way for groundbreaking advancements in cancer drug development. Dr. Min Xue, the senior author of the study, expressed excitement at the prospect of taming MYC, a protein that was once considered elusive.
This breakthrough marks a significant step forward in cancer research, offering hope for more targeted and effective treatments for the millions of people affected by cancer worldwide.