Two professors at Binghamton University in New York are using a
novel imaging technique to observe the behavior of an enzyme--
called tubulin tyrosine ligase, or TTL--as its behavior can
suggest whether certain cancer cells might grow more
aggressively than others. Though they are not developing actual
therapies, Susan Bane and Susannah Gal say their research could
help further personalize targeted cancer therapies.
"Potentially, we could put [a tumor sample] in our labeling
system and say, 'Yes, that has a problem with the TTL system,
and therefore you should be more aggressive with it,'" says Gal,
whose work is funded by the National Institute of General
Medical Sciences. "Or we could say, 'That's probably OK, so you
can treat it with normal chemotherapy.'" The enzyme TTL involves
microtubules, which both help chromosomes line up correctly
during cell division and provide part of the scaffolding of a
cell's structure. Those microtubules are made of proteins called
tubulin; the enzyme carboxypeptidase clips a