One of the biggest challenges in scientists' quest to develop new and better
treatments for cancer is gaining a better understanding of how and why cancer
spreads. Recent breakthroughs have uncovered how different cellular proteins
are turned 'on' or 'off' at the molecular level, but much remains to be understood
about how protein signaling influences cell behavior.
 | | A photoactivatable protein enables control of cell movement in living cells. Activation of Rac in the red circle led to localized cell protrusion and translocation of the kinase PAK to the cell edge (right hand image, Pak in red). Credit: Yi Wu, UNC-Chapel Hill. |
A new technique developed by Klaus Hahn, Ph.D. and his colleagues uses light
to manipulate the activity of a protein at precise times and places within a
living cell, providing a new tool for scientists who study the fundamentals
of protein function.
In a paper published today in the journal Nature, Hahn, who is the Thurman
Professor of Pharmacology at the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a member of UNC Lineberger Comprehensive
Cancer Center, described the technique, which uses light to control protein
behavior in cells and animals simply by shining light on the cells where they
want the protein to be active.
"The technology has exciting applications in basic research – in
many cases the same protein can be either cancer-producing or beneficial, depending
on where in a cell it is activated. Now researchers can control where that happens
and study this heretofore inaccessible level of cellular control," said
Hahn.
"Because we first tested this new technology on a protein that initiates
cell movement, we can now use light to control where and how cells move. This
is quite valuable in studies where cell movement is the focus of the research,
including embryonic development, nerve regeneration and cancer metastasis,"
he added.
The new technology is an advance over previous light-directed methods of cellular
control that used toxic wavelengths of life, disrupted the cell membrane or
could switch proteins 'on' but not 'off'.
The research in Hahn's lab was carried out by Yi Wu, PhD, research assistant
professor of pharmacology, in collaboration with a team led by Brian Kuhlman,
PhD, associate professor of biochemistry and biophysics at UNC and a team led
by Ilme Schlichting, PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in
Heidelberg, Germany.
This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Posted August 19th, 2009
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