13/09/2011

Researchers at Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) have discovered a new cellular signaling mechanism that had been unknown until this moment. It is the coordinated use of two languages that are used by the cell to send internal signals in a precise and targeted way. This mechanism does not replace existing forms of communication known (phosphorylation), but is additional. The finding has much biological value because this mechanism has many signs of being held unchanged in the evolutionary scale because it is present from the simple worm, through flies, reptiles, small mammals, primates to humans.The mechanism is based on the methylation of belonging to the components of the pathway RAS-ERK, one of the key ways in many important biological processes and, by definition, a key to the malignancy of a cell. Therefore, this research could have important implications for cancer "to the point that we could be facing a whole new era in the study of drugs capable of modulating the biological response induced by a signaling pathway", says Dr. Juan Ángel Recio, head of the Laboratory of Animal Models and Cancer at VHIR and coordinator of the study published today in the journal Science Signaling.The article has been selected and evaluated by Faculty of 1000 (F1000) and Nature Reviews in Molecular Cell Biology will highlight it in the issue of November. "http://www.vhir.org/global/videos/Audios/ScienceSignaling_110913.mp3" More information