Waste Disposal Protein, a Mechanism Behind Cancer Tumour Suppression

The investigators at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) and Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey have discovered that the key to cancer tumour suppression is a waste disposal protein, known as autophagy.

Previous study of Eileen White, Ph.D., associate director for basic science at CINJ, proved that autophagy, the process in which cells eat themselves, is a pathway to cancer tumour suppression, but they discovered the mechanism only now, when focusing on a protein known as p62.

When a cell is no longer receiving nourishment for growth and is under environmental stress, p62 is responsible for disposing of damaged proteins that accumulate in it. This protein assembles the damaged materials and, in the autophagy process, degrades itself along with them. If the process is disrupted, it has side effects that can cause tumour progression. Those side effects may include toxicity, genome damage and inflammation.

The senior author of the research publication is Dr. White, an adjunct professor of surgery at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and a professor of molecular biology and biochemistry at Rutgers University. Since it is the first time the tumour suppression has been linked to the disposal of p62, this discovery is an opportunity to help the people with cancer predisposition. “These latest findings show that p62 can act as a marker to identify certain cancers and that we can manipulate p62 levels to stimulate the process of autophagy and ultimately tumor suppression”, said White.

This discovery involving p62 has implications in other diseases also, not only in cancer. Such diseases are Alzheimer, Parkinson and Huntington, which fail to dispose of protein waste properly.

Unlocking the mysteries of neurodegenerative disorders and providing tools for new drugs will be based on this discovery, but further studies should focus also on identifying novel mechanisms for tumour prevention.