Protein offers a new target for controlling tumor growth

A protein called PACS-2 plays a big role in transporting the enzyme ADAM17 into patient cells, making this an appealing target for cancer drug developers, according to a team at the University of Copenhagen. ADAM17 spurs cell growth, making it a key driver in tumor growth. "There have been attempts at developing a pill to inhibit ADAM17, only the patients became ill due to side effects, because other, similar enzymes were also affected. But if you inhibit PACS-2, you can, in principle, obstruct only ADAM17, which would enable us to inhibit the growth of the cancer tumor," says postdoc Sarah Dombernowsky. Release | Abstract