Cracking enzyme code opens way to new cancer drugs

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

PARIS (AFP) — Researchers have broken the code of an enzyme that plays a key role in the growth of most cancers, opening a path that potentially leads to a new class of anti-cancer drugs, according to a study released Sunday.

Other scientists who reviewed the study hailed it as a breakthrough in fundamental cancer biology, but cautioned that much work remained before the exploit could be translated into next-generation therapies.

The enzyme, called telomerase, "is an ideal target for chemotherapy because it is active in almost all human cancer tumours, but inactive in most normal cells," said Emmanuel Skordalakes, a professor at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia who led the study.

"That means that a drug that deactivates telomerase would likely work...