Tumors cells are capable of producing molecular force field to fend off any kind of treatment (like chemotherapy) that attacks them. The cells produce an enzyme that bonds with a protein, creating a protective barrier that deflects damage from radiation or chemotherapy, promoting tumor cell survival.

But now, University of Florida researchers have found a chink in the tumor's armor.

"We have found a gene called focal adhesion kinase which is produced at very high levels in human tumors, and our work has shown this makes the tumors more likely to survive as they spread throughout the body and grow," said William G. Cance, M.D., a researcher at the University of Florida Shands Cancer Center and chairman of the department of surgery at UF's College of Medicine. "It also makes them more resistant to our attempts to kill them. And we're trying to understand exactly why this gene, which is a small enzyme molecule, is very intimately associated with tumor cell survival."

Focal adhesion kinase, or FAK, is commanding increasing attention and has spawned a flurry of research designed to develop new drug therapies, said Cance, who is known internationally for his genetic investigations of tumor survival.

The research showed that if the enzyme-protein interaction is disrupted or block from binding with each other, the tumor cells will be more prone to being killed.

Think about bringing the tumor cells' defenses down. This interesting observation opens windows of cancer therapy alternatives.

Photo Source: Invitrogen