Preventing Rejection Of Anti-Cancer Drugs

Scientists at the University of Technology, Sydney have discovered important features of the structure of the molecule responsible for rejecting chemotherapy in up to 50% of cancer patients. Researchers have debunked previous notions of the structure of this molecule, called P-glycoprotein, in studies that has now been validated by research institutes in Europe and the USA.

P-glycoprotein is found in healthy human tissue and occurs at abnormally high levels in cancer cells. It intercepts anti-cancer drugs as they enter tumour cells and pumps them out again.

Researchers around the world have been trying to discover the structure of P-glycoprotein. Identifying its structure is the first step towards inactivating it with chemical inhibitors or alternatively, creating anti-cancer drugs that P-glycoprotein cannot recognise.

It was previously thought that each P-glycoprotein molecule formed a single channel through the cell membrane. The UTS research predicts that each molecule forms two channels. In addition, researchers have identified the number and position of drug-binding sites on the protein and clarified the way in which the two fuel cells that power the pumping action of the molecule fit together.

The findings found that attempts by pharmaceutical companies to inactivate P-glycoprotein are correctly directed.

The UTS findings have been published in The European Journal of Biochemistry.