Bodily protein can help treat breast, prostate cancers---study

Researchers at the Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine revealed that regulating a protein called RSK in the human body, could transform the way cancer could be treated.

Tarun Patel, PhD, chairman, Department of Molecular Pharmacology & Therapeutics and lead author of the study said, “The implications are widespread, and will also change textbooks for students.”

Details of the study
The research team cited the particular area of the regulatory protein that connects to RSK, and keeps a check on its activity by curbing it to develop than its average rate.

The team established that when it is triggered, RSK is involved in cell survival, cell proliferation, and cell enlargement.

This leads to progression of cancer tumors, heart enlargement, and tumors linked to a genetic disease called Carney complex-- a state of myxomas (tumor of connective tissues) of the heart, and skin and hyperpigmentation of the skin.

The team also found that another enzyme, PKA, which is also connected with the protein that binds to RSK.

PKA is responsible for maintaining bodily functions like heart rate, heart contractions, blood pressure, hormone release, memory and learning along with a role-playing in the evolution and growth of cancerous cells.

The team established that as RSK and PKA ‘compete for binding with the same regulatory protein; they end up modulating each other’s activities.’

Therefore, the researchers stressed on keeping the two enzymes under stringent check by coming up with newer drugs that would effectively perform the role of the regulatory protein.

They added that this could be valuable in treating conditions like breast and prostate cancers, and heart enlargement, in which RSK is activated.

The details of the study appear in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Carney complex
“Carney complex is an inherited disease that includes such symptoms as spotty skin pigmentation, benign or cancerous tumors of hormone-producing glands, and unusual benign tumors in the heart that can cause fatal heart attacks,” said Patel.

The disease is linked to the metamorphosis that causes paucity of the regulatory protein that binds to RSK. This results in activation of RSK in Carney complex patients, and contributes to tumor growth.

Nearly seven percent of cardiac myxomas are associated with Carney complex.