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New Chemical Tools Lead To Targeted Cancer Drugs
New submitter caudex writes: Proteins are encoded in DNA, and while the degeneracy of the genetic code works to minimize errors, a single DNA basepair mutation can change the structure of the encoded protein. When a mutated protein causes uncontrolled cell growth, we call it cancer. Unfortunately, proteins typically contain hundreds of amino acids, and developing a drug that will target the version of a protein containing one amino acid mutation is difficult. For this reason, most anticancer agents indiscriminately attack both mutant and healthy proteins and tissues. Researchers at Caltech have come up with a potentially general method for selectively drugging only the mutant protein at fault for cancerous activity, even in the crowded and complex milieu of living cells. Their proof of concept study published in Nature Chemistry targets the E17K mutation, which can be the causative mutation of many types of cancer.
It was a typical Ken Burns documentary, history etc. One salient part of the documentary was that cancer is not a single disease. It is a huge variety of diseases causing uncontrolled cell divisions. Further the cancer a patient has changes, evolves over time. Many promising drugs work very well initially but the cancer adapts to the drug.
Another salient part of it is the exponential increase in the cost of treatment. It has gone upwards of 100,000$ per patient per year in drugs. I am sure the researchers in Caltech know more about it than I do, but still, one wonders are they raising hopes needlessly and prematurely.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
If it works it will be patented and shelved.
A lifetime of treatments is far more profitable than a one time cure.
Political correctness is really just herd psychology pushed by insecure people who desperately seek social conformity.
Not sure why this kind of cute 'inside baseball' research is being posted on Slashdot. Firstly there are many and better ways of screening for peptides -- the click chemistry trick is probably applicable only for this this proof of concept (toy) system. Good luck with a real protein. Secondly peptides are useful for research and totally useless as drugs. Thirdly the summary is really wrong here, the minimal in vivo data shown here does not come close to addressing the "complex milieu" of cells much less cancer much less Akt mutation driven cancer
So which member of the Cal Tech research team posted this slashvertisement? Congratulations on your Nature Chemistry paper. By they way it has gone to your head.
assh0le to others case you wantk to
The first episode was all about new cancer treatments similiar to this,
They coined the term, 2016 could be the first year that a therapy is introduced that will eradicate cancer versus the Pharma's actions of treating but not eliminating the problem..
I mean they gotta find ways to pay for their AMG's, porches, etc.... Right?>?
have fun
Cancer is an immune system defect. Perhaps treating the underlying cause (the basal immunity defect) would have far better rates of success than treating the symptoms (as is done now, and as this proposes).