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Scientists discover electrical control of cancer cell growth
The molecular switches regulating human cell growth do a great job of replacing cells that die during the course of a lifetime. But when they misfire, life-threatening cancers can occur. Research led by scientists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) has revealed a new electrical mechanism that can control these switches.
This information is seen as critical in developing treatments for some of the most lethal types of cancer including pancreatic, colon and lung, which are characterized by uncontrolled cell growth caused by breakdowns in cell signaling cascades.
The research focused on a molecular switch called K-Ras. Mutated versions of K-Ras are found in about 20 percent of all human cancers in the United States and these mutations lock the K-Ras switch in the on position.
"When K-Ras is locked in the on position, it drives cell division, which leads to the production of a cancer," said John Hancock, M.B., B.Chir, Ph.D., ScD, the study's senior author and chairman of the Department of Integrative Biology and Pharmacology at UTHealth Medical School. "We have identified a completely new molecular mechanism that further enhances the activity of K-Ras."
Findings appear in Science, a journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The study focused on the tiny electrical charges that all cells carry across their limiting (plasma) membrane. "What we have shown is that the electrical potential (charge) that a cell carries is inversely proportional to the strength of a K-Ras signal," Hancock said.
With the aid of a high-powered electron microscope, the investigators observed that certain lipid molecules in the plasma membrane respond to an electrical charge, which in turn amplifies the output of the Ras signaling circuit. This is exactly like a transistor in an electronic circuit board.
Yong Zhou, Ph.D., first author and assistant professor of integrative biology and pharmacology at UTHealth Medical School, said, "Our results may finally account for a long-standing but unexplained observation that many cancer cells actively try to reduce their electrical charge."
Initial work was done with human and animal cells and findings were subsequently confirmed in a fruit fly model on membrane organization.
"This has huge implications for biology," Hancock said. "Beyond the immediate relevance to K-Ras in cancer, it is a completely new way that cells can use electrical charge to control a multitude of signaling pathways, which may be particularly relevant to the nervous system."
Hancock's co-authors at UTHealth include Ching-On Wong Ph.D., Kwang-Jin Cho, Ph.D., Dharini van der Hoeven, Ph.D., Hong Liang, M.D., Dhananjay Thakur, Jialie Luo, Ph.D., Michael Zhu, Ph.D., Hongzhen Hu, Ph.D., and Kartik Venkatachalam, Ph.D.
Co-authors from The University of Arizona include Milos Babic, Ph.D., and Konrad Zinsmaier Ph.D.
At UTHealth Medical School, Hancock is the vice dean for basic research, executive director of the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases and holder of the John S. Dunn Distinguished University Chair in Physiology and Medicine.
Hancock and Venkatachalam are on the faculty of The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston.
Story Source:
The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Journal Reference:
- Y. Zhou, C.-O. Wong, K.-j. Cho, D. van der Hoeven, H. Liang, D. P. Thakur, J. Luo, M. Babic, K. E. Zinsmaier, M. X. Zhu, H. Hu, K. Venkatachalam, J. F. Hancock. Membrane potential modulates plasma membrane phospholipid dynamics and K-Ras signaling. Science, 2015; 349 (6250): 873 DOI: 10.1126/science.aaa5619
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/08/150824130820.htm
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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