PAGE 1 OF 1 Removing Radiation Roadblock by Sarah C.P. Williams
Researchers have found the protein that makes some tumors
unresponsive to radiation. Radiation damages the chromosomes
inside cells (lower panel), normally causing the cells to die.
Almost half of all cancer patients receive radiation treatment.
When it works, the high-energy rays damage genetic material
inside tumor cells, causing them to self-destruct. But some
tumors are resistant to the radiation. HHMI investigator M.
Celeste Simon at the University of Pennsylvania School of
Medicine has uncovered one protein responsible for radiation
resistance in some renal cancers and likely implicated in other
cancers as well. Simon's lab studies proteins involved in
maintaining normal oxygen levels throughout the body. Called
hypoxia inducible factors (HIFs), these proteins usually signal
cells to conserve energy when oxygen is depleted, promoting
survival. But some types of cells, like those that form new
blood vessels, need to grow more aggressively wh