Protein can help cells or cause cancer

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., July 8 (UPI) -- Understanding "ubiquitination" in cells may help scientists find ways to treat cancer, a U.S. researcher says.

Biochemist Xiaoqi Liu of Purdue University says this process is key to cell growth and the formation of tumors.

Liu explains how a molecule involved in cell growth -- Plk1-- indirectly attacks another molecule -- known as p53 in a process called ubiquitination.

"This provides the mechanism for how p53 loses its function in cancer cells," Liu says in a statement.

The Purdue University scientist says that an overabundance of Plk1during cell growth, as well as a shortage of the p53 molecule, will lead to tumor formation.

During cell growth, Plk1 uses its protein activity called phosphorylation, which consists of adding a phosphate group to a protein called Topors. Topors binds itself to p53 molecules during the ubiquitination process. Phosphorylation is basically an instruction from Plk1 to increase its ubiquitination activity, which kills p53 molecules.

The study is published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.