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\u201cWe found that this protein was actually making a difference between non-metastatic cancer cells and highly-metastatic cancer cells,\u201d St-Pierre explains, meaning that when cancer cells expressed galectin-7, the cancer was more aggressive and more likely to spread. \u201cThese proteins recognize the cancer-killing immune cells and kill them, so it is a major obstacle to treatment and that is why we\u2019re targeting it.\u201d
\nAfter studying galectins for more than a decade, St-Pierre learned that galectin proteins tend to link together, forming what is called a dimer, which is important to the protein\u2019s biological function.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought, \u2018how can we disrupt this dimer?\u2019 We thought if we could prevent these proteins from sticking together, it should inhibit its biological activity,\u201d St-Pierre says. He and his colleagues designed and synthesized peptides, or small molecules for therapeutic purposes, with the goal of disrupting the dimerization of galectin-7.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt turned out these peptides were very effective. Not only could the peptide disrupt the dimer, but it was capable of destroying galectin-7\u2019s biological activity. It could prevent the ability of galectin-7 to kill the immune cells.\u201d<\/p>\n
While past researchers had tried to inhibit galectins before, St-Pierre notes that this project is unique because it has a new target \u2013 the protein\u2019s dimerization \u2013 and it is specific to galectin-7.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are about 15 of these galectins and some of them increase cancer progression, but some of them are actually good for the patient. So it\u2019s very important to target the galectins specifically. One of the problems in the past is that people were designing inhibitors that were not specific enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
This can also allow for precision medicine, as galectin-7 is only expressed in about one of two cancers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we want to do today is look at the patient, look at if the target is there, and treat with the drug that treats the target that is present,\u201d he says.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For several decades, researchers have known that a class of proteins called galectins has been linked to the spread of cancer, but attempts to create a treatment targeting these proteins have met with little success. Now, a GlycoNet research team is narrowing in on a new drug that targets a protein in this family. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11517,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[203],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-highlight","wpbf-post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t