Scientists in Singapore and Spain have gained new insights into the activity of a tumor-suppressor protein in fruit flies that could aid the understanding of some human cancers. The study, published in PLOS Biology, might eventually lead researchers toward new cancer treatments and prevention.
October 19, 2022
Scientists in Singapore and Spain have gained new insights into the activity of a tumor-suppressor protein in fruit flies that could aid the understanding of some human cancers. The study, published in PLOS Biology, might eventually lead researchers toward new cancer treatments and prevention.
Duke-NUS Medical School scientists collaborated with colleagues from the Institute for Research in Biomedicine from the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, the Genome Institute of Singapore and NUS to investigate a human tumor-suppressor protein called Parafibromin. The normal activities of Parafibromin prevent tumors from developing, but deficiencies in these activities have been linked to several cancers, including hyperparathyroidism-jaw tumor syndrome and breast, gastric, colorectal and lung cancers. Until now, the exact role of the protein in health and disease in the nervous system has remained unknown.
Although fruit flies and humans may seem very different, researchers often find that crucial molecular pathways, signaling and control systems are shared across many species, having originated early in the evolution of a diverse variety of organisms.
