To stop cancer: Block its messages
Monday, March 30, 2015 - 14:30
in Health & Medicine
A potential drug molecule has been discovered that stops cancer cells, but not healthy ones, from getting their 'mail.' The average living cell needs communication skills: It must transmit a constant stream of messages quickly and efficiently from its outer walls to the inner nucleus, where most of the day-to-day decisions are made. But this rapid, long-distance communication system leaves itself open to mutations that can give rise to a "spam attack" that promotes cancer, the researchers say.