Meet MYC, the shapeless protein responsible for making the majority of human cancer cases worse. UC Riverside researchers have found a way to rein it in, offering hope for a new era of treatments.
In healthy cells, MYC helps guide the process of transcription, in which genetic information is converted from DNA into RNA and, eventually, into proteins.
Normally, MYC's activity is strictly controlled. In cancer cells, it becomes hyper active, and is not regulated properly.
Min Xue, UCR associate professor of chemistry said, "MYC is less like food for cancer cells and more like a steroid that promotes cancer's rapid growth. That is why MYC is a culprit in 75% of all human cancer cases."
At the outset of this project the UCR research team believed that if they could dampen MYC's hyperactivity, they could open a window in which the cancer could be controlled. However, finding a way to control MYC was a challenge.
