Mythology and Science

Protein that promotes cancer cell growth identified | Eureka! Science News: "Scientists at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have found that the Caspase-8 protein, long known to play a major role in promoting programmed cell death (apoptosis), helps relay signals that can cause cancer cells to proliferate, migrate and invade surrounding tissues. The study was published in the journal Cancer Research on June 15. The team of scientists, led by Kristiina Vuori, M.D., Ph.D., professor and director of the Cancer Center at Burnham, showed that Caspase-8 caused neuroblastoma cancer cells to proliferate and migrate. For the first time, Caspase-8 was shown to play a key role in relaying the growth signals from epidermal growth factor (EGF) that cause cell division and invasion. The researchers also identified an RXDLL amino acid motif that controls the signaling from the EGF receptor through the protein kinase Src to the master cell proliferation regulator protein, MAPK. This same signaling pathway stimulates neuroblastoma cells to migrate and invade neighboring tissues--a critical process in cancer metastasis."

This is one of a number of papers howing that caspases have many functions, in this case opposing death. Because the caspases were first discoverd in a death pathway, many biologists equate them with killing cells.