Double strike against leukaemia: Inducing defective cell division could improve therapy

Targeting the powerhouses of the cell

06-Nov-2024 - Cell division is a pivotal moment in the life cycle of a cell: when things go wrong, the cell typically triggers growth arrest or its own self-destruction. Researchers in Austria and Italy have now discovered a previously unknown process that initiates cancer cell death in two distinct ways. This ...

Fighting Ovarian Cancer

Rhenium tricarbonyl complex with antitumor activity targets Fe-S cluster biogenesis

17-Oct-2022 - Metal-containing complexes have taken up center stage in the search for new cancer drugs that are as free of side effects as possible. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a research team has now described how a very low dose of a rhenium metal complex interferes with cellular metabolism to such an ...

Keeping aggressive cancer cells in check

An astonishing observation

23-Sep-2022 - BRCA1/2-mutated tumor cells often survive treatment, whether it’s chemo- or radiotherapy, because they can repair therapy-induced DNA damage. A team led by Claus Scheidereit of the Max Delbrück Center has now reported in The EMBO Journal how blocking the TSG101 protein hinders these tumor cells ...

Broccoli compound induces cell death in yeast

Research path for cancer treatment

26-Jan-2022 - Broccoli may contain advantages beyond nutrition. A molecule found in broccoli, cabbage and more digests down into DIM, a compound with brighter benefits than the name implies, such as inducing cell death in breast, prostate and colon cancer. Now, researchers are beginning to understand the ...

Old protein – new function: tBID can directly trigger cell death

This opens up a new approach in cancer therapy

23-Dec-2021 - The protein tBID can trigger programmed cell death (apoptosis) by inducing damage in the energy suppliers of the cells, the mitochondria. Apoptosis is essential for maintaining tissue balance. In addition, apoptosis plays a critical role as a defence mechanism and in the elimination of damaged or ...

Bungled cell division drives cancer cells of childhood tumors to death

Cancer researchers have discovered a mechanism that can activate the self-destruction of cancer cells of childhood tumors

22-Sep-2021 - A drug combination already being tested in other cancers caused the cancer cells to accumulate errors in their genetic material in mice, causing the bone and soft tissue tumors to shrink in the laboratory. The scientists from the Hopp Children's Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ), Heidelberg ...

Hijacked immune activator promotes growth and spread of colorectal cancer

15-Jul-2021 - Through a complex, self-reinforcing feedback mechanism, colorectal cancer cells make room for their own expansion by driving surrounding healthy intestinal cells to death - while simultaneously fueling their own growth. This feedback loop is driven by an activator of the innate immune system. ...

Photopharmacology - A light-trigger for the proteasome

A light-sensitive inhibitor can control cell division and cell death – and provides a promising approach for studies of essential cellular processes and the development of novel tumor therapies

03-Nov-2020 - The ability to precisely control biological and chemical processes is an essential element of both basic research and medicine. Light represents an attractive stimulus in this context, as its effects can be accurately modulated both spatially and temporally. These desirable properties are the ...

How dying cells prevent dangerous immune reactions

14-Jan-2020 - Dying cells in the body can keep the immune system in check, thus preventing unwanted immune responses against the body's own tissues. Scientists of the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) have now identified a receptor on immune cells that activates this ...

Insights into a versatile molecular death switch

The enzyme caspase-8 regulates different modes of cell death

27-Nov-2019 - The enzyme caspase-8 induces a molecular cell death programme called pyroptosis without involving its enzymatic activity, a new study by Hamid Kashkar published in Nature shows. In order to safeguard healthy and functioning tissues, cells utilize different cell death mechanisms to dispose of ...