Scientists engineer one protein to fight cancer and regenerate neurons [in mice]

phys.org ^ | 06/08/2020 | by Tom Abate, Stanford University

[BenLurkin]

Shape is the critical concept. Like all proteins, ligands and receptors are made up of many different amino acids strung together like pearls and folded into distinct three-dimensional shapes. A ligand with the right shape fits its matching receptor like a key fits a lock.

By using sophisticated molecular engineering techniques, the researchers can change the lineup of amino acids in a ligand, essentially making millions of keys that they then screen to see which might unlock its matching receptor in some desirable way. A key that fits better and trips the lock more efficiently -scientists call this a superagonist—might transmit messages instructing cells to grow more robustly. Bioengineering can also be used to turn ligands into antagonists—keys that also fit the receptor lock, but in a way that blocks the signal and thus might retard a function like cell growth.

The new experiments build on that work as a research team led by graduate student Jun Kim engineered the ligand known as CLCF1 which binds with the CNTFR receptor. By making one set of amino acid alterations in CLCF1, Kim turned that ligand into a superagonist. When they added this superagonist to a tissue culture of injured neuronal cells, the engineered CLCF1 increased the messaging signals that promote the growth of axons, the fibers that transmit nerve impulses, suggesting that this modified ligand was encouraging wounded neurons to regenerate themselves.

Conversely, Kim and his fellow researchers showed that, by introducing a few additional amino acid alterations to CLCF1, they could turn this ligand into a potent antagonist that could inhibit the growth of lung tumors in mice, suggesting a different possible medicinal use for this variant of the molecule.

[ClearCase_guy]

Sounds complicated. I suppose this sort of thing doesn’t just randomly happen in the lab? You need some really Intelligent people involved? To Design a process that actually makes this deliberately happen?

[thepatriot1]

Racist against mice

[wastedyears]

The whole pharma lobby will hate this.

[katana]

Just a laymen’s guess, and probably way off the mark, but would this not amount to an engineered virus (invasive clump of proteins) that fights cancer and rebuilds neurons that may have been lost due to Alzheimers? If so I’d wonder what the ramifications would be if or as it mutates.

[WLusvardi]

There have been a zillion such research reports of promising cancer cures that always go nowhere. Look, if you put cancer cells in a petri dish and pour mud on them, the cancer cells will eventually die. So is mud a cancer cure?

[Right Wing Assault]

Some group, after massive testing, will determine that it causes heart irregularities and could kill the patient. /S