Striped mouse

Striped mouse

Striped mouse (Rhabdomys pumilio) on the cover of the August edition of Behaviour

Striped mouse (Rhabdomys pumilio) on the cover of the August edition of Behaviour
My photo and the accompanying paper (see List of publications) were published in this issue.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Summary: Lum & Clevers (2012)

In 2012, a small molecule called LGK974, targeting Wnt-mediated cellular signalling entered the first stage of clinical trials. This type of cellular signalling is important in animal development and tissue homeostasis and, as a result, has been identified as a high-priority anticancer drug target. The target of LGK974 is an acyltransferase called Porcupine (PORCN), which adds fatty acids to Wnt. PORCN is a member (the founder) of the 16-gene family that has predicted acyltransferase activity. The fatty acid modification of Wnt is essential to the activity of proteins coded by PORCN. Lum & Clevers (2012) suggest that the proposed use of a PORCN inhibitor for targeting the Wnt signalling pathway in cancer reflects a growing confidence in the use of non-traditional anti-cancer treatments that target  cellular processes important in embryonic development.

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