A previously poorly investigated signalling pathway is crucial for the growth and proliferation of prostate cancer cells. An international research team discovered this when studying the enzyme "soluble adenylyl cyclase" that produces the second messenger molecule cAMP. When the scientists inhibited the enzyme, the cancer cell proliferation was suppressed. The team led by Dr. Yury Ladilov from the Department of Clinical Pharmacology at the Ruhr-Universit-t Bochum reported together with colleagues from the Department of Urology at the RUB and the Cornell University in New York in the "Journal of Biological Chemistry".
cAMP is generated at several locations in the cell
Cyclic AMP (cAMP) is a second messenger molecule that controls many processes ranging from cell growth to cell death. An enzyme located in the cell membrane, called adenylyl cyclase, produces the molecule. Generated at the cell membrane, cAMP affects, for example, ion channels or other enzymes which are anchored in the membrane. However, the messenger also influences intracellular processes in the nucleus or in the mitochondria, the powerhouses of the cell. The common view was that cAMP diffuses from the membrane through the cell liquid - the cytosol - to its destination. Recent studies, however, suggest that cAMP is not only produced at the cell membrane, but also in the cytosol - by the enzyme soluble adenylyl cyclase (LAC). The function of LAC has so far barely been studied.
The enzyme LAC plays a role in cell division