Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research

(Uppsala, August 1) — Cancer cells, like houses, need building materials for their walls. And as with a house, the cell wall needs to be built at just the right moment to protect and allow the construction of internal components. A team from the Uppsala Branch of the global Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) has not only shown how the cell gets this timing right, but has also conducted proof-of-principle studies that indicate taking away the cell’s bricks and mortar is a potential strategy for cancer control.

“New cells are created by the duplication of existing cells through a highly-organized process known as the cell cycle,” explains lead author, Dr. Maite Bengoechea Alonso. “Last year we discovered that a protein called SREBP1 that regulates the synthesis of lipids needed for new cell walls was regulated during the cell cycle. Now we show that the SREBP1 protein actually controls the cell cycle.”

Senior author, LICR’s Dr. Johan Ericsson, realized that disrupting the function of SREBP1 might prevent the lipid synthesis required for new cell walls. “In fact, we literally stopped the cell cycle in its tracks by removing SREBP1 from cells. It seems that if you don’t have SREBP1 activity, you can’t make lipids, and if you don’t have lipids, you can’t make new cells.”

According to Dr. Ericsson, who is also a Research Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, this approach might one day form the basis of a new strategy for the long-term control of cancer. “Cancer cells divide uncontrollably, so their need for lipids is more urgent and continuous than normal cells. Treatment with an inhibitor of SREBP1 might reduce the rate of cancer cell proliferation to slow down tumor growth, or might enhance the effect of targeted therapies that aim to actually kill cancer cells.”

About The Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research

The Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) is the largest international academic institute dedicated to understanding and controlling cancer. Headquartered in New York and with one Centre for Clinical Sciences and nine Branches in seven countries, the scientific network that is LICR quite literally spans the globe. LICR has developed an impressive portfolio of reagents, knowledge, expertise, and intellectual property, and has also assembled the personnel, facilities, and practices necessary to patent, clinically evaluate, license, and thus translate, the most promising aspects of its own laboratory research into cancer therapies.

For further information please contact:

Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research:

Dr. Johan Ericsson, LICR Uppsala Branch
johan.ericsson@licr.uu.se
+46 18 16 04 05 (Business hours, Sweden: UTC/GMT +2 hours)

Dr. Sarah White, LICR Director of Communications
swhite@licr.org
212 450 1543 (Business Hours, New York: UTC/GMT -5 hours)
917 974 7952 (After Hours, New York)