A team of scientists led by Greek Professor Georgios Giamas, has provided strong evidence for an effective new target for breast cancer treatment.
In the five-year study titled "The structure-function relationship of oncogenic LMTK3", researchers from seven institutions across three countries collaborated to solve the structure of LMTK3.
"By solving the crystal structure of LMTK3, we have demonstrated that it possesses all of the hallmarks of an active protein kinase. LMTK3 plays a pivotal role in controlling cellular processes, and we have previously shown that active LMTK3 makes some cancer treatments (eg. chemotherapy and endocrine therapies) less effective," said Georgios Giamas, Professor of Cancer Cell Signalling at the University of Sussex.
According to the scientists, LMTK3 could be an effective therapeutic target for breast cancer treatments and potentially other types of cancer.
"We are now in the process of taking this research to the next stage by developing LMTK3 specific drugs. We hope that in the next five years we will be undertaking clinical trials, which is incredibly quick for this type of process," he added.
LMTK3
LMTK3 is a protein implicated in the development and progression of different malignancies and other diseases (eg. central nervous system related), which is not typically included in commercial kinase screening assays.
The research successfully demonstrates that LMTK3 is an active kinase and reports a compound which binds to, and effectively inhibits, this protein resulting in anticancer effects in cells and in breast cancer models in mice.
