Publication highlights

Scientists at the Crick and Barts Cancer Institute (Queen Mary University of London) have discovered that a single letter change in the PRKCA gene drives a rare and hard-to-treat brain cancer, chordoid glioma. The PRKCA gene contains instructions for making a protein called protein kinase C alpha (PKCa). Until now, many believed blocking kinases would be useful for treating cancer, but in this study the team discovered that the mutation in PRKCA blocks the kinase but paradoxically drives tumour growth. This was because it became locked in a shape that allowed it to promote cancer cell growth signalling and because it interacted with epigenetic regulators in a way that promoted cancer growth.

Researchers in the Parker lab have unpicked the action of protein kinase C (PKC) in modulating cell growth and division. The team developed a novel trap for proteins regulated by PKC by engineering UV-photocrosslinkable amino acids into PKCε to produce a sort of molecular flypaper. They captured a previously unknown PKCε target, the RNA-binding protein SERBP1, and showed that SERBP1 was required for successful chromosome segregation and cell division. Their work provides a new insight into how cells protect their genome during division and also which regulatory processes could play a key role when cells become cancerous.