Source: The Press Association (ukpress.google.com)
Author: staff

Scientists have announced they had identified a “new route” for messages to cells in fruit flies which could lead to the growth of breast, ovarian, head and neck cancer in people.

The team at the University of Liverpool found signals from a molecule called Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) on the surface of a cell are fed through a protein called pico in flies, which has a similar protein in humans called Lamellipodin.

This process controls and regulates cell growth and division and its discovery has been described as “important basic research” by the charity Cancer Research UK.

The EGFR molecule sends signals that drive the growth of breast cancer, ovarian cancer and cancers of the head and neck in people.

Lead author of the study and Cancer Research UK scientist Dr Ekaterina Lyulcheva, who is based at the University of Liverpool, said: “Before now, scientists knew about the presence of these molecules and their possible link to cancer, but no-one knew how they talked to each other, to ultimately control tissue growth.

“We know EGFR is linked to cancer but we have not shown that Lamellipodin is used to drive the growth of cancer in humans. Lamellipodin is a similar protein to pico in fruit flies that has similar functions.”

Dr Lyulcheva said that although Lamellipodin and pico had similar functions more research in humans would need to be undertaken to discover if Lamellipodin was used to drive the growth of the cancers.

Cancer in the body is caused by abnormal cell growth.

The project started in 2003 and involved a team of four people at the University of Liverpool with contributions from three researchers at King’s College London.

Dr Daimark Bennett, laboratory head for the project at the University of Liverpool, said: “We are extremely excited to have unlocked the key to a completely new route to cancer development and hope it will kick start a whole new direction for powerful research projects to block points in this pathway through the development of new drugs.”