New molecular blocker halts breast cancer metastasis (IMAGE)
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Cancer cells use feet-like protrusions called invadopodia to degrade underlying tissue, enter the bloodstream and form metastases in other organs. Approximately four years ago Dr. Hava Gil-Henn and researchers from the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine of Bar-Ilan University revealed two important clues about the formation of invadopodia: the cellular level of the proteins Pyk2 and cortactin suspiciously increased when the cell entered its malignant phase, but when the cell lost its ability to produce Pyk2, no metastasis was observed whatsoever. In a recent study expanding on this finding, Dr. Gil-Henn and Prof. Jordan Chill, of Bar-Ilan's Department of Chemistry, characterized the interaction between these partner proteins and showed that this interaction is a prerequisite for metastasis formation of cancer cells. Further, they determined the mechanism in which the cortactin-Pyk2 interaction affects invadopodia formation and defined the structure of the complex between these two proteins. The findings of the research team, which also included Dr. Shams Twafra and Dr. Chana Sokolik, were published in the journal Oncogene. Photo: Prof. Jordan Chill, Department of Chemistry, Bar-Ilan University
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Courtesy Bar-Ilan University
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