Location
Georgia Campus
Start Date
2-5-2012 2:00 PM
End Date
2-5-2012 4:00 PM
Description
Background: Cancer is an elusive neoplastic disease that claims the lives of many people around the world every year. Though treatments have become more specific to the different types of cancer, the need for antineoplastic drugs that target cancer cells and leave normal cells unharmed, with little to no systemic toxicity remains, and rubredoxin might be such a tool. Rubredoxin is a small (53 amino acids), water soluble, non-heme iron electron transfer protein that contains an iron atom cofactor, which can be substituted with various cytotoxic transition metals such as nickel and cobalt with little or no effect on the protein. Rubredoxin from the hyperthermophile Pyrococcus furiosus is thermostable and appears to have low immunogenicity. The focus of this project is to incorporate tumor-specific binding sequences at several modifiable sites on the protein as well as substitute the iron-center with cytotoxic metals. Once a stable rubredoxin containing these characteristics is created, its effects and efficacy will be studied on specific cancer cells in vitro.
Included in
Characterization of a Small Iron Protein, Pyrococcus Furiosus Rubredoxin, as a Potential Cancer Drug Delivery System
Georgia Campus
Background: Cancer is an elusive neoplastic disease that claims the lives of many people around the world every year. Though treatments have become more specific to the different types of cancer, the need for antineoplastic drugs that target cancer cells and leave normal cells unharmed, with little to no systemic toxicity remains, and rubredoxin might be such a tool. Rubredoxin is a small (53 amino acids), water soluble, non-heme iron electron transfer protein that contains an iron atom cofactor, which can be substituted with various cytotoxic transition metals such as nickel and cobalt with little or no effect on the protein. Rubredoxin from the hyperthermophile Pyrococcus furiosus is thermostable and appears to have low immunogenicity. The focus of this project is to incorporate tumor-specific binding sequences at several modifiable sites on the protein as well as substitute the iron-center with cytotoxic metals. Once a stable rubredoxin containing these characteristics is created, its effects and efficacy will be studied on specific cancer cells in vitro.