Results of the research by biology professor Charles Rutherford, Reyna Favis, research assistant professor, and Ian McCaffery, research associate, has the potential to become the backbone of gene therapy for cancer.
Cancer cells multiply faster than normal cells, and continue to multiply, or proliferate.
Whereas normal cells receive molecular information that stops cell proliferation and starts cell differentiation, in the cancer cell the signals are either not present or not received. Those molecules that are involved in the transition point between proliferation and cell differentiation are of particular interest with respect to the formation of a cancer cell, Rutherford said. Because most anti-cancer drugs inhibit cell division by interfering with either DNA synthesis or repair, RPA is a potential target for therapeutic intervention. Understanding the signaling pathways and molecular processes that lead to the genetic transitions between cell proliferation and cell differentiation is fundamental to devising therapeutic interventions for human cancer. Gene therapy of cancer remains a potentially valid approach, and, in fact, clinical trials are under way in some cases.