Al-Marsad Newspaper: Scientists have come up with a new way to stop the growth of melanoma, the most dangerous type of skin cancer, which arises in melanocytes, which produce the pigment melanin, which gives the skin its color. And scientists from America have shown for the first time that inhibiting a key metabolic enzyme “promises” in killing cancerous skin cells and stopping tumor growth, according to what was published in the journal Nature Cell Biology.
Study leader Professor Zeev Ronai, director of the Sanford Burnham Prebys Cancer Center for Medical Discovery, explained that melanoma cannot survive and grow without an enzyme called GCDH, which plays a key role in amino acid metabolism. Professor Rooney explained that inhibiting GCDH leads to a structural change in another protein called NRF2, which then acquires the ability to suppress cancer cells.
“Our goal now is to find a drug, or drug, that limits the activity of GCDH,” he said, as it has been found to be extremely important for cancer cells for energy and growth.
Dr Sachin Verma, one of the study’s authors, added: “Melanoma cells eat lysine and tryptophan, two types of amino acids essential for human health, which are eaten by cancer cells to produce energy.”
And he added: “However, harnessing the energy from this pathway requires cancer cells to quench the toxic waste generated during this process.” Further experiments found that inhibition of GCDH in an animal model conferred NRF2-inhibiting properties.
Professor Ronai’s team is now working with scientists at the Konrad Priebes Center for Chemical Genomics at Sanford Burnham Priebes to identify small molecule GCDH inhibitors that might be the starting point for future skin cancer therapies.
