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Researchers at IRB Barcelona discover a general mechanism that accelerates tumor development

By 25 de February de 2013November 18th, 2020No Comments
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The principal investigators of the study, Raúl Méndez (right) and Alessio Bava. Author: Luca T. Barone. IRB Barcelona.
 25.02.2013

Researchers at IRB Barcelona discover a general mechanism that accelerates tumor development

Nature has published a paper by the lab headed by Raúl Méndez, ICREA professor at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), located at the Barcelona Science Park.The study describes a mechanism controlled by the CPEB1 protein that affects more than 200 genes related to cell proliferation and tumor progression. The mechanism, which was discovered using Hodgkin lymphoma cells, has been proposed as a general regulatory system that enhances the spread of cancer.


The researchers describe that CPEB1 shortens a highly specific region of RNAs (RNAs are the molecules that carry gene information for protein synthesis). This region holds most of the signals that determine whether an RNA molecule is made into a protein or not. “CPEB1 “takes off the brakes” for hundreds of RNAs that stimulate cell desdifferentiation and proliferation, allowing them to be made into proteins; however, in addition to removing the brakes in the nucleus, this protein accompanies RNA to the cytoplasm, where it speeds up the production of these proteins”, explains the senior author of the paper Raúl Méndez, head of the “Translational control of cell cycle and differentiation” group at IRB Barcelona.

This study provides further evidence of the potential of CPEB proteins as therapeutic targets. In 2011, in a study published in Nature Medicine, Méndez identified that CPEB4 “switches on” hundreds of genes linked to tumor growth. This new study explains that the overexpression of CPEB4 in tumors is because CPEB1 has also “released its brakes”. “The fact that these proteins control each other is also advantageous from a therapeutic point of view”, asserts Méndez, “because partial inhibition, by a drug, would be amplified, thus allowing tumor cell reprogramming. The amplification should make it easier to find a viable compound”.

The lab has developed a system to screen therapeutic molecules for a drug that can inhibit the action of CPEB in tumors while having few secondary effects on healthy cells. “There is no drug currently available that influences the regulation of gene expression at this level. Our findings open up a pioneering therapeutic window. We are optimistic about the potential of CPEB proteins as targets”, says Méndez.