Imagine cancer cells as sneaky little creatures trying to spread and cause trouble in the body. Scientists discovered a new way these sneaky cells use a special protein called GRP78 to move around and become more resistant to treatment. This protein is like a helper that can change how other proteins work, affecting whether they are active or not.
Under stressful situations, GRP78 changes its location within the cell and starts controlling certain genes that are responsible for the movement of cancer cells. It’s like the protein goes to a different room in the cell and starts giving commands to make the cancer cells move and spread more.
Now that we know about this protein and its tricks, scientists can work on ways to stop it from moving around or interfere with its commands, which might help in stopping cancer cells from spreading and becoming dangerous. But remember, it’s still early research, and more work needs to be done to find effective treatments
Rand0mA@lemmy.world 1 year ago
ELI5 (Explain like I’m 5):
Imagine cancer cells as sneaky little creatures trying to spread and cause trouble in the body. Scientists discovered a new way these sneaky cells use a special protein called GRP78 to move around and become more resistant to treatment. This protein is like a helper that can change how other proteins work, affecting whether they are active or not.
Under stressful situations, GRP78 changes its location within the cell and starts controlling certain genes that are responsible for the movement of cancer cells. It’s like the protein goes to a different room in the cell and starts giving commands to make the cancer cells move and spread more.
Now that we know about this protein and its tricks, scientists can work on ways to stop it from moving around or interfere with its commands, which might help in stopping cancer cells from spreading and becoming dangerous. But remember, it’s still early research, and more work needs to be done to find effective treatments
ConfusedLlama@kbin.social 1 year ago
Thanks, this is really helpful for lazy science lovers like me :)