Many cancers, including colon, prostate, and leukemia, continue to grow unchecked because they do not respond to a signal to die and stop proliferating from Transforming Growth Factor-beta (TGF-b).
The cause of this signaling disruption of the normal cell cycle has not been fully understood. For the first time, scientists at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have discovered the biologic function of the cytoplasmic form of the Promyelocytic Leukemia protein (PML), and identified it as an essential factor in maintaining TGF-b signaling. Their findings, published in the September 9 issue of the journal Nature, explain the link between these two proteins in the development of cancer and suggest that restoring their activity may provide a possible cancer treatment.
"Through our discovery of the biologic function of PML and its essential role in maintaining TGF-b signaling, we can better understand the progression of many human cancers," said Pier Paolo Pandolfi, M.D., Ph.D., Head of the Molecular and Developmental Biology Laboratory at Memorial Sloan-Kettering and the study's senior author. "Restoring PML function may correct this signaling defect therefore providing a novel therapeutic target for cancer drugs."