• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Sunday, June 15, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News

Human cells with a ‘built-in circuit’ help prevent tumor growth

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
November 28, 2016
in Science News
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
ADVERTISEMENT
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram
IMAGE

Credit: University of Southampton

Researchers at the University of Southampton have engineered cells with a 'built-in genetic circuit' that produces a molecule that inhibits the ability of tumours to survive and grow in their low oxygen environment.

The genetic circuit produces the machinery necessary for the production of a compound that inhibits a protein which has a significant and critical role in the growth and survival of cancer cells. This results in the cancer cells being unable to survive in the low oxygen, low nutrient tumour micro-environment.

As tumours develop and grow, they rapidly outstrip the supply of oxygen delivered by existing blood vessels. This results in cancer cells needing to adapt to low oxygen environment.

To enable them to survive, adapt and grow in the low-oxygen or 'hypoxic' environments, tumours contain increased levels of a protein called Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1). HIF-1 senses reduced oxygen levels and triggers many changes in cellular function, including a changed metabolism and sending signals for the formation of new blood vessels. It is thought that tumours primarily hijack the function of this protein (HIF-1) to survival and grow.

Professor Ali Tavassoli, who led the study with colleague Dr. Ishna Mistry, explains: "In an effort to better understand the role of HIF-1 in cancer, and to demonstrate the potential for inhibiting this protein in cancer therapy, we engineered a human cell line with an additional genetic circuit that produces the HIF-1 inhibiting molecule when placed in a hypoxic environment.

"We've been able to show that the engineered cells produce the HIF-1 inhibitor, and this molecule goes on to inhibit HIF-1 function in cells, limiting the ability of these cells to survive and grow in a nutrient-limited environment as expected.

"In a wider sense, we have given these engineered cells the ability to fight back – to stop a key protein from functioning in cancer cells. This opens up the possibility for the production and use of sentinel circuits, which produce other bioactive compounds in response to environmental or cellular changes, to target a range of diseases including cancer."

The genetic circuit is incorporated onto the chromosome of a human cell line, which encodes the protein machinery required for the production of their cyclic peptide HIF-1 inhibitor. The production of the HIF-1 inhibitor occurs in response to hypoxia in these cells. The research team demonstrated that even when produced directly in cells, this molecule still prevents the HIF-1 signalling and the associated adaptation to hypoxia in these cells.

The next step for the researchers is to demonstrate the viability of this approach to the production and delivery of an anticancer molecule in a whole tumour model system.

Professor Tavassoli adds: "The main application for this work is that it eliminates the need for the synthesis of our inhibitor, so that biologists conducting research into HIF function can easily access our molecule and hopefully discover more about the role of HIF-1 in cancer. This will also let us understand whether inhibiting HIF-1 function alone is enough to block cancer growth in relevant models. Another interesting aspect to the work is that it demonstrates the possibility of adding new machinery to human cells to enable them to make therapeutic agents in response to disease signals."

The study, which was funded by Cancer Research UK and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, is published in the journal ACS Synthetic Biology.

###

Media Contact

Becky Attwood
[email protected]
@unisouthampton

http://www.southampton.ac.uk/

############

Story Source: Materials provided by Scienmag

Share12Tweet7Share2ShareShareShare1

Related Posts

Magnetic Soft Millirobot Enables Simultaneous Locomotion, Sensing

Magnetic Soft Millirobot Enables Simultaneous Locomotion, Sensing

June 15, 2025
blank

Urban Form Shapes Compound Natural Risk: US Study

June 14, 2025

Perivascular Fluid Diffusivity Predicts Early Parkinson’s Decline

June 14, 2025

Are Traditional Podcasters Becoming Obsolete? AI-Driven Podcasts Pave the Way for Accessible Science

June 14, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • Green brake lights in the front could reduce accidents

    Study from TU Graz Reveals Front Brake Lights Could Drastically Diminish Road Accident Rates

    158 shares
    Share 63 Tweet 40
  • New Study Uncovers Unexpected Side Effects of High-Dose Radiation Therapy

    75 shares
    Share 30 Tweet 19
  • Pancreatic Cancer Vaccines Eradicate Disease in Preclinical Studies

    69 shares
    Share 28 Tweet 17
  • How Scientists Unraveled the Mystery Behind the Gigantic Size of Extinct Ground Sloths—and What Led to Their Demise

    65 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 16

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Magnetic Soft Millirobot Enables Simultaneous Locomotion, Sensing

Urban Form Shapes Compound Natural Risk: US Study

Perivascular Fluid Diffusivity Predicts Early Parkinson’s Decline

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.