December 10, 1996. Graphic News.


ANCIENT TREASURES OF THE DEEP HELP UNLOCK CANCER MYSTERIES

LONDON, December 10, Graphic News- THE HUMBLE jellyfish is helping in the fight against cancer.
The green fluorescent protein which the creature flashes on and off as a defence mechanism is being injected into human cells.
This enables scientists to see for the first time how individual proteins in the cell move when the cell divides.
A Cancer Research Campaign team in Cambridge, who are at the forefront of this pioneering technique, believe their work will help in the quest to target drugs at the heart of the developing cancer.
Dr Jonathon Pines and his colleagues at the Wellcome/CRC Institute have adapted research first devised in America to work in human cells.
They work in darkened laboratories to study the full impact of the fluorescent ÔtagÕ as it lights up proteins in the cell.
Explains Dr Pines, ÔCancer cells often divide when they shouldnÕt. Experts have until now only been able to guess which part of the machinery has run out of control. This area of research is helping us better understand how to tackle cancer at its earliest beginnings.Õ
Professor Gordon McVie, Director General of the Cancer Research Campaign, says this work is at the cutting edge of research. ÔItÕs fascinating to think that jellyfish, which first appeared in the sea over 700 million years ago, are offering a modern day solution to one of scienceÕs greatest mysteries. This is yet another example of nature lending a helping hand in the search for new ways to crack the code of cancer.Õ

Source: Cancer Research Campaign


News of this novel research is announced to coincide with the launch of the CampaignÕs Annual Scientific Report published today ( Wednesday, December 11, 1996).

For more information please contact:
Susan Osborne
Director of Communications
Cancer Research Campaign
Tel +44 (0)171 224 1333
Mobile 0836 229208
Home +44 (0)1444 454836