Low-oxygen conditions ought to suffocate cells, but somehow cancer cells survive. They even progress and spread more aggressively, thanks to a newly identified signaling pathway, the HIF-GPRC5A-YAP axis. Blocking this pathway, scientists suggest, could choke cancer. The pathway appears to be “druggable” because it depends on a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR), a type of receptor commonly targeted by drugs. Also, the receptor does not appear to be useful to normal cells, so interfering with it could stifle cancer cells without harming healthy tissue. The pathway was identified by University of Bristol scientists who worked with cancer cells grown in dishes, mouse models, and with a molecular biology technique called proteomics. Essentially, the scientists determined which proteins are present at elevated levels in cancer cells that are subjected to hypoxia, or oxygen-deficient conditions—conditions of the sort that arise when rumors grow faster than their blood supply. The results ...
Original Article: Cancer’s Last Gasp? Could Be, If Hypoxia Pathway Is Blocked