Lab-created \u201cfrankenproteins\u201d developed by a team of scientists at the University of Toronto Mississauga offer hope for safer and more effective cancer treatments in the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The protein-based drugs being developed by Jumi Shin and her students are described as \u201cfrankenproteins\u201d because of the way they are created: by cutting and pasting parts of different proteins.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Early versions have been shown to slow tumour growth in some aggressive cancers.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur protein drugs are potentially part of the next-generation arsenal against cancers,\u201d says Shin, \u00a0an associate professor in the department of chemical and physical sciences\u00a0at U of T Mississauga.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her team employs a strategy known as rational design, where chemists design new proteins based on detailed knowledge of related proteins’ structures and functions. This allows researchers to engineer proteins that can be useful in drug development and synthetic biology.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In one recent research paper<\/a>, Shin and PhD students Raneem Akel and Rama Edaibis used rational design to create a customized protein that can target a specific genetic sequence to regulate gene circuits in cells.<\/p>\n Another paper<\/a>, co-authored by PhD student Maryam Ali, demonstrates how one of the team\u2019s \u201cdesigner frankenproteins\u201d can inhibit a protein complex called Myc\/Max from binding to its DNA target site. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is good because Myc, in particular, goes rogue in many cancers,\u201d explains Shin. \u201cAnd currently there is no small-molecule drug that can tackle the Myc\/Max network.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The Shin research group\u2019s work recently received new funding from the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research through its Cancer Therapeutic Innovation Pipeline. The program provides up to $1 million over two years to develop new anti-cancer treatments. \u201cIf successful, these next-generation protein therapies could offer safer and more effective treatments for hard-to-treat breast and ovarian cancers, particularly for patients who have limited options or resistance-prone disease,” the OICR said<\/a>.<\/p>\n The support comes at a critical time for Shin and her team. “This generous funding allows us to enlarge our collaboration and move our proteins forward,\u201d Shin says.\u00a0<\/p>\n Development of these new proteins can be streamlined by using directed evolution, a lab-based method that mimics and speeds up the process of natural selection to move towards a goal.\u00a0<\/p>\n