Canadian scientists inhibit cancer protein

Canadian medical scientists say they’ve developed a new way to inhibit two cancer proteins in a study that might lead to more effective chemotherapy.

A research team led by University of Toronto-Mississauga Professor Patrick Gunning created several molecules that inhibit Stat3 — a protein that in cancer cells pairs with a copy of itself and becomes unstable.

The molecules we have created are particularly nice because they’re showing selectivity against cancer cells, but not against healthy cells, Gunning said. This molecule could be used in conjunction with typical chemotherapeutics, and it could mean that drugs will have less resistance-so you could use lower dosages and cause fewer side effects.

The scientists said the Stat3 protein is involved in nearly all cancers, and is known to contribute to the resistance of cancer cells to current drug therapies. Most currently available therapeutics aim to induce cell death, Gunning said. We wanted to make small molecules that could try and stop this protein.

The study that also included scientists from the University of Central Florida and the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto appears in the September issue of the European journal ChemBioChem.