Taranjit Gujral, a PhD student at Queen’s developed three-dimensional models of the mutated RET protein implicated in a condition causing cancerous thyroid tumors. The model allowed him to predict and compare the protein’s molecular actions and to see that the protein was ten times more active than normal in cells associated with multiple endocrine neoplasia 2B (MEN 2B) syndrome, an inherited cancer syndrome.
Lois Mulligan, professor of pathology and molecular medicine at the Queen’s Cancer Research Institute, said: “We now know why this gene causes these tumors and can start looking at how best to target the mutant proteins so that the cells expressing them can be killed or stopped from growing.”
MEN 2B is currently treated with surgery, and other treatments, such as radiation and chemotherapy are not very effective. The study provides valuable tools for specific targeting of the actions of the protein that may aid in the development of anticancer therapies.