A research paper by 黑料不打烊 biologist , assistant professor in , was designated as the Paper of the Week in the Sept. 4 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC), published by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Only the top 1 percent of the more than 6,600 articles published each year in JBC receive this prestigious designation.
The paper describes the discovery of a second molecular switch within the mixed lineage leukemia (MLL) protein complex that the researchers believe could be exploited to prevent the overproduction of abnormal cells that are found in several types of cancer, including leukemia. Anamika Patel, a postdoctoral researcher in Cosgrove鈥檚 lab, who is being featured on JBC鈥檚 website, did much of the experimental work for the paper.
During the course of their research to better understand MLL, a protein switch that helps regulate the formation of white blood cells, members of Cosgrove鈥檚 research group discovered a new molecular switch within the MLL complex, which they labeled W-RAD.
鈥淲e thought that MLL was the only switching mechanism present in this protein complex,鈥 Cosgrove says. 鈥淗owever, we discovered the complex is really two switches.鈥
In normal cells, MLL combines with four proteins that comprise the W-RAD group to create a molecular switch that controls DNA packaging events required to form white blood cells. When the MLL switch is broken, white blood cells do not mature properly, resulting in a dangerous proliferation of abnormal cells.
Similarly, the proteins that form the W-RAD complex are overproduced in several types of cancer cells, but until now scientists did not know the function of these proteins. Cosgrove鈥檚 group discovered that the W-RAD proteins form a new kind of switch鈥攐ne that has never been seen before.
鈥淭he W-RAD switching mechanism signals the cell to create multiple copies of cancer cells,鈥 Cosgrove says. 鈥淚f we can find a way to turn off this switch, we might be able to slow or stop the production of abnormal cells and convert them to normal cells.鈥
In October 2008, Cosgrove鈥檚 research group broke new ground in leukemia research by identifying a way to attack a broken MLL switch using a synthetic peptide. The peptide may be able to reprogram the way DNA is packaged in leukemia cells and help convert abnormal cells into normal ones. That research was also published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. In June, Cosgrove received a $720,000 Research Scholar Grant from the American Cancer Society to expand his work in leukemia research.
