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Study Says ADAM-12 Gene may Hold Key to Cancer, Arthritis and Cardiac Treatments
Alpana Ray, of the MU College of Veterinary Medicine, and a team of researchers including Bimal Ray, professor of Veterinary Pathobiology, discussed one pathway by which the ADAM-12 gene could be regulated, a process that could eventually be used as part of a treatment plan.
Scientists know that ADAM-12 is normally found in very low levels in adults, but during cancer, arthritis and cardiac hypertrophy, ADAM-12 level goes up.
The only time it is normal to find a high level of the gene is during pregnancy, when ADAM-12 can be found in the placenta.
At the molecular level, Ray's team found a Z-DNA-binding silencer element that keeps the level of ADAM-12 low in normal conditions. They believe that if they could alter Z-DNA-binding silencer, new therapies could be right around the corner.
"We are finding that in the placenta, where ADAM-12 is highly expressed, the repressor protein (Z-DNA-binding protein) is inactive. In other tissues, where ADAM-12 expression is low, the repressor is active. What we don't know is how it actually works. We know co-factors are at work here. If we can identify the class of proteins that interact with Z-DNA repressor, it could lead to many therapeutic applications," said Alpana.
Because ADAM-12 is a versatile gene, it may play a role in metastasis during which cancer cells travel throughout the body and spread to other organs.
"We know that ADAM-12 causes cells to anchor to one another, and we know that ADAM-12 allows cancer cells to proliferate," she said.
The findings have been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Source-ANI
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