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When the mirror image kills – Prof. Dr. Roland Lill, former LOEWE-SYNMIKRO, shows how mirrored amino acids specifically inhibit the growth of certain cancer cells
Prof. Dr. Roland Lill, managing director of the Institute for Cell Biology at the Marburg Center for Synthetic Microbiology (SYNMIKRO), which was funded by the Hessian LOEWE program from 2010 to 2018 and then continued at Philipps University of Marburg, and his team have deciphered a mechanism by which the mirror-image amino acid D-cysteine inhibits the growth of certain tumor cells. While the Geneva group led by Jean-Claude Martinou discovered that tumor cells with enhanced cysteine transporters are particularly sensitive, Lill's laboratory was able to show that D-cysteine blocks an enzyme that incorporates sulfur into vital iron-sulfur proteins.
These proteins perform central functions such as DNA synthesis. Without them, the cell loses its functionality and dies. The effect is based on the fact that the sulfur in D-cysteine is arranged in a mirror image and therefore cannot reach the active site of the enzyme. The team reports on the results in the journal Nature Metabolism.
“The research could be relevant for tumor therapy,” comments Lill. Initial experiments on mice in the Geneva laboratory have shown that D-cysteine can also significantly inhibit tumor growth in living animals. The researchers now want to test whether and how the substance can be used in cancer treatment.
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