Obscure protein is spotlighted in fight against leukemia

Date:
January 11, 2022
Source:
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Summary:
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a cancer of white blood cells.

Researchers discovered that AML cancer cells depend on a protein
called SCP4 to survive. They think the previously little-known
protein is involved in a metabolic pathway the cancer cells need to
survive. SCP4 provides researchers with a potential new therapeutic
approach for this aggressive cancer.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an aggressive cancer of white blood cells
with few effective targeted therapies available to treat it. Cold Spring
Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Professor Christopher Vakoc and former graduate student Sofya Polyanskaya found that AML cells rely on a previously little-known protein called SCP4 for survival. Their discovery points
to a potential new therapeutic approach for this disease.


==========================================================================
SCP4 is a phosphatase, a type of protein that regulates cell activity by
taking phosphates off other proteins. Another type of protein called a
kinase puts those phosphates back on. The number of phosphates added to
or subtracted from a protein -- its phosphorylation level -- determines
its activity. Polyanskaya discovered that SCP4 could pair with either
one of two similar kinases called STK35 and PDIK1L. AML cells appear to
need the phosphatase and kinases to work together to survive; turning
off the gene that produces SCP4 kills the cancer cells.

Polyanskaya was surprised to find only 12 papers in the scientific
literature that even mention SCP4. Of those papers, none discussed a role
for these proteins in cancer. She says: "When you encounter something
that was never previously studied in the context of cancer or hasn't
been understood at all, it's very interesting." The researchers think
SCP4 may control an important metabolic pathway on which AML cells
depend. Drugs directed against SCP4 could starve and kill the cancer
cells while allowing other healthy blood cells to grow. Fortunately,
other phosphatases have been successfully targeted by drugs before.

Polyanskaya admits that deciding to study SCP4 was risky. But now that
its important role in AML cells has been discovered, Polyanskaya says,
"Other researchers can use this system and tweak some other things to
really try and pinpoint the exact pathway. This work underscores the
importance of fundamental research for discovering future therapies." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Cold_Spring_Harbor_Laboratory. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Sofya A. Polyanskaya, Rosamaria Y. Moreno, Bin Lu, Ruopeng Feng,
Yu Yao,
Seema Irani, Olaf Klingbeil, Zhaolin Yang, Yiliang Wei, Osama E.

Demerdash, Lukas A. Benjamin, Mitchell J. Weiss, Yan Jessie Zhang,
Christopher R. Vakoc. SCP4-STK35/PDIK1L complex is a dual phospho-
catalytic signaling dependency in acute myeloid leukemia. Cell
Reports, 2022; 38 (2): 110233 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.110233 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220111111954.htm

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