IMB Seminar Series - Professor Peter Gunning - Building an anti-cancer therapy out of the basic science of the actin cytoskeleton

Event Details

Date:

Friday, 22 June 2018

Time:

12:30 pm - 1:30 pm

Room:

QBP Auditorium

UQ Location:

Queensland Bioscience Precinct (St Lucia)

URL:

https://imb.uq.edu.au/event/8822/imb-friday-seminar-series

Event category(s):

Full Description:: Building an anti-cancer therapy out of the basic science of the actin cytoskeleton

The actin cytoskeleton participates in virtually every cytoplasmic function in mammalian cells. This is achieved by building not just one type of actin filament but rather, distinct types of filaments with different functional characteristics which have become optimised for different physiological roles. Variation in the composition of actin filaments is largely provided by the family of tropomyosins which co-polymerise with actin. Tropomyosin isoforms regulate filament interactions with binding proteins and motor proteins. Discovery of the mechanism of action of tropomyosins and the reliance of cancer cells on a specific isoform of tropomyosin opened the door to the development of anti-cancer drugs which target this tropomyosin. Anti-tropomyosin drugs show up to 20-fold synergy with anti-microtubule drugs currently used in the clinic. This synergy provides a clear path to the clinic for anti-tropomyosin drugs but has also provided a novel approach to understanding the functional collaboration of the actin cytoskeleton with microtubules.