"Cancer triger arrested by molecular handcuffs"

A molecule that promotes cell growth, and is frequently increased in different types of tumors, can be restrained by a molecular version of handcuffs, raising the prospect of a new way of treating the disease, according to new research released February 15.

Cancer Research UK-funded scientists were able to lock up a protein called IGF2, which helps control growth in all normal cells but when over-produced makes cells grow too large and too fast. In humans, increased levels of IGF2 are associated with a higher relative risk of bowel cancer.

Scientists at Bristol University took mice with a genetic predisposition to bowel polyps, which can lead on to cancer, and used a molecule that binds strongly to IGF2 to capture it and rescue the mouse cells from its effects.