Mumbai-born, US-settled , Dr. Vivek Ragnekar, professor of radiation medicine at the University of Kentucky, has discovered that the Par-4 protein, mass killer of cancer cells is produced within the human body itself and spread through circulation to other organs.

This finding will now be a help to scientists in finding different ways for naturally increase of the protein in the body. May be through natural diets which will resist to the growth of cancer.

The study also found out that Par-4 protein is also capable of killing cancer cells if it is applied from outside. Before this discovery it was been believed that Par-4 protein has to be present inside cancer cells to kill them. With this discovery scientists can now develop approaches to safely inject the Par-4 protein to inhibit cancer.

According to Dr Rangnekar, who is associate director of University of Kentucky’s Markey Cancer Center, what these findings mean for the future is that it may not be necessary to use invasive or genetic approaches to inhibit the growth of cancer.

The study was reported in the journal `Cell’ on Friday. Dr Rangnekar added “The novelty is that the Par-4 molecule binds to its receptor GRP78 on the surface of a tumour cell and then triggers a biological process called apoptosis or cell suicide, killing the cancer cells.”

Par-4 gene was discovered by Dr Ragnekar in 1993. In 2007, his team introduced the gene into a mouse embryo, creating the super mouse.

Source – TNN

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