Sci Adv: Discover a new protein that boosts cancer progression

, July 5, 2020 /
PRNewswire/
-- Cancer occurs when thegeneticcode of normal cells is changed, leading to overgrowthResearchers at the Singapore Institute of Cancer Science (CSI Singapore) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have discovered a protein that promotes the growth of esophageal orliver cancerby changing genetic codes in a novel waythis protein, called death-related protein 3,DAP3, inhibits a process called adenosine-myosine (A-to-I) RNA editing, which usually correctsgeneticto ensure correct gene expressionBy inhibiting RNA editing, DAP3 became a cancer-causing gene -- a gene that has the potential to cause cancerThis discovery offers the potential to develop new cancer treatment drugs for DAP3the study, led by Polly Chen, an assistant professor at CSI in Singapore, and was recently published in the scientific journal Science AdvancesPicture Source: Understanding A-to-I RNA EditingRNA is the most important molecule in cellsThey not only convert genetic information stored in DNA into proteins, but also play an important regulatory role in various biological processes RNA editing is a process in which RNA is altered by DNA transcription, causing proteins to change In humans, the most common type of RNA editing is A-to-I editing, mediated by ADAR proteins (ADAR1 and ADAR2) Over the past decade, numerous studies have reported that the accumulation of harmful changes in A-to-IRNA editing can trigger cell development into cancer However, there is still limited knowledge about how the A-to-I RNA editing process regulates cancer , the CSI Singapore team conducted a study to understand how DAP3, the interacting protein of A-to-I RNA editing catalytic enzymes (ADAR1 and ADAR2), regulates the process in cancer cells a drug target for cancer treatment
the team demonstrated that DAP3 can disrupt the binding of ADAR2 proteins to target RNAs, thereby inhibiting the editing of A-to-I RNA in cancer cells This inhibition may be one of the ways in which DAP3 promotes the development of tumor their analysis also showed that DAP3 showed an increase in expression in 17 cancers Further experiments show that DAP3 plays the role of cancer genes in esophageal cancer and liver cancer cells Interestingly, they also found that one of the editing targets for DAP3 inhibition was the PDZD7 gene, and found that the editing of PDZD7 produced a new PDZD7 protein product that promoted the growth of DAP3-driven tumor overall, these observations reveal the complexity of the A-to-I RNA editing process in cancer cells and suggest that DAP3 may be a promising target for future cancer drug development "With this new knowledge, we can now study how to intervene in the interaction between DAP3 and ADAR proteins to interfere with the cancer promotion process mediated by RNA editing in cells," said Professor Chen, who led the study (BioValleyBioon.com) reference: Researchers Queath scro-
-jan Han et al, of adenosine-to-inosine (A-progress-I) RNA editomed by the de-de-de-op s3 (DAP3 ) DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aba5136