QUB Scientists Claim Rb Protein Victory Against Cancer

Scientists at Queen's University in Belfast have claimed a major breakthrough in the fight against throat and cervical cancer.

They said their discovery could lead to the development of new therapies, which would limit the spread of cancerous tumours.

The treatments might also be applicable to other kinds of cancer.

The researchers found that the non-cancerous tissue around a tumour, known as 'stroma', regulates the spread of cancer cells, actively encouraging cancer to spread, and targeting it could prevent it being invaded by neighbouring cancer cells.

The research, led by Professor Dennis McCance, has just been published in the European Molecular Biology Organisation Journal.

Professor McCance said: "What we have discovered is that a particular protein in non-cancerous tissue has the ability to either open or close the communication pathway between the healthy tissue and the tumour. When the Retinoblastoma protein (Rb) in non-cancerous tissue is activated, this leads to a decrease in factors that encourage invasion by cancer cells. And so, the cancer doesn't spread.

"By specifically targeting pathways controlled by the Rb protein, it would be possible to switch-off the messages that encourage cancer cells to invade, and inhibit the spread of the tumour."

Professor McCance said that although the recently-published research focused on throat and cervix cancers, other types of cancer could possibly also be treated using the breakthrough discoveries.

The research was funded by the Wellcome Trust, the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre and the National Institutes of Health (USA), and was supported by the Northern Ireland Biobank.

The research paper, entitled 'Inactivation of Rb in stromal fibroblasts promotes epithelial cell invasion' can be found online at www.nature.com/emboj/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/emboj2012153a.html

(NE)