Cell 'glue' provides cancer insight
The researchers discovered the signals that prompt proteins to build the 'glue' that binds cells together to form healthy tissues. Image: BeholdingEye/iStockphoto University of Queensland researchers have discovered an important step in how proteins glue cells together to form healthy tissues, a process that is often disturbed in diseases such as cancer and inflammation.Professor Alpha Yap, Dr Aparna Ratheesh and Dr Guillermo Gomez from UQ's Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB) led a team that discovered the signals that prompt proteins to build the "glue" that binds cells into tissues.“Cells are the basic building blocks of our body,” Professor Yap said.“Healthy tissues require their component cells to recognise and adhere to one another.“This adhesion is achieved through specialised bundles of proteins whose formation is promoted by a signalling protein called Rho."You can think of this signal like the conductor of an orchestra, making sure that all the players work together.”Professor Yap and his...