This is a vital news regarding the development of breast cancer, so women may find this to be of their relevance. The master gene known as SRC-3 gene (steroid receptor coactivator 3) apparently not only improves estrogen-dependent growth of cancer cells by triggering and stirring the transcription of a genetic message into a protein, it may also transmit a signal to the cell membrane to support cell motility or movement. This is apparently an imperative constituent of cancer transmission or metastasis. At least this is what a study from Baylor College of Medicine claims.
The discovery apparently exposes a novel activity for SRC-3 at the cell’s periphery. It could also solve a mystery as to how the message that informs a cell to attack gets from the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) to the triggering enzyme known as FAK (focal adhesion kinase), supposedly found on the cell’s membrane.
“Two-thirds of breast cancers over express the gene SRC-3. The work represented in this paper shows that a coactivator gene (SRC-3) can produce an alternative form of its coactivator protein – a shorter form that is missing the part of the protein that keeps it in the nucleus. With that portion (called an exon) gone, it leaves the nucleus and goes into the cytoplasm (or general area of the cell) and travels to the membrane,” commented, Dr. Bert O’Malley, chair of molecular and cellular biology at BCM and the report’s senior author.
“At the membrane, the enzyme PAK1 (p21-activated kinase 1) phosphorylates (attaches a phosphate molecule that activates the coactivator) SRC-3, allowing it to function at the membrane,” added O’Malley.
The study author, Dr. O’Malley was the one who detected the first receptor coactivator.
The discovery clarifies as to how the epidermal growth factor receptor at the membrane may receive a signal to the enzyme that informs the cell to move and eventually develop. This enables the cancer to attack nearby tissue.
O’Malley remarked that they now know the final picture as to why epidermal growth factor receptor and the estrogen receptor are the most dangerous combination of molecules overproduced in breast cancer. When they are both over functioning, people die quickly and are resistant to therapy.
The study appears in the journal Molecular Cell.