Japanese scientists have reported discovering an enzyme that may suppress breast cancer cells and inhibit growth.
Writing in the journal Nature Cell Biology, scientists found that an enzyme called CHIP successfully suppressed breast cancer in mice.
Two kinds of human breast cancer cells were injected into mice ““ one carried the CHIP enzyme and the other did not. Scientists noted that tumors were far smaller among those who had been injected with the set carrying the CHIP enzyme.
Junn Yanagisawa, from the University of Tsukuba, Japan, and colleagues hope their findings will be used to design new treatments and drugs that target growth and metastasis.
“Our conclusion is that we have found that CHIP protein prevents breast tumor growth and metastasis,” Yanagisawa told Reuters.
Yanagisawa added that CHIP while acts to target the gene regulator SRC-3, it is also known to degrade a number of cancer causing proteins.
“In breast tumor treatments, measurement of the CHIP protein levels in the tumors may be valuable information for the treatment. Furthermore, designing a new therapy that increases CHIP protein levels or its activity could be useful for breast tumor treatment,” Yanagisawa said.
Breast cancer is the second most common form of cancer in the world, killing more than 500,000 people each year.
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