Macrocyclic peptide-based inhibition and imaging of hepatocyte growth factor

Journal:
Nature Chemical Biology
Published:
DOI:
10.1038/s41589-019-0285-7
Affiliations:
14
Authors:
16
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Research Highlight

A novel peptide drug for cancer diagnosis and treatment

© BSIP/Getty

A short peptide drug that inhibits a growth factor implicated in cancer development has been discovered by researchers in Japan. The molecule could be useful for diagnostic tumour imaging and anti-cancer treatment.

A team co-led by Kanazawa University scientists identified a circular protein, just 12 amino acids around, that selectively binds to the activated form of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and prevents the growth factor from interacting with a cancer-associated protein to make tumours more aggressive.

The researchers showed that this peptide, known as HiP-8, could potently restrict the invasiveness of human cancer cell lines. They also used a fluorescently labelled version of HiP-8 to non-invasively visualize sites of HGF activity in a mouse model of lung cancer.

This kind of diagnostic information will help guide treatment decisions for cancer patients.

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References

  1. Nature Chemical Biology 15, 598–606 (2019). doi: 10.1038/s41589-019-0285-7
Institutions Authors Share
Kanazawa University (KU), Japan
6.000000
 0.38
RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research (BDR), Japan
4.000000
 0.25
The University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Japan
2.500000
 0.16
Institute for Protein Research (IPR), Osaka University, Japan
2.000000
 0.13
Tohoku University, Japan
1.000000
 0.06
The University of Sydney (USYD), Australia
0.500000
 0.03