AI Summary
The study published in Nature Cell Biology highlights how the protein OTX2 drives the progression of medulloblastoma, an aggressive childhood brain cancer. Researchers discovered that OTX2 interacts not only with transcription factors but also with splicing factors, which are involved in alternative splicing. This process allows cells to produce different proteins from a single gene. Targeting OTX2 or its effects could have therapeutic relevance in treating this cancer.
In a report published in Nature Cell Biology, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital, the University of Manitoba and collaborating institutions revealed an unexpected way in which the protein OTX2 drives the progression of medulloblastoma – the most common aggressive childhood brain cancer. The findings suggest that targeting OTX2 or its effects can have therapeutic relevance.
“We see medulloblastoma stem cells as the root of the disease. The tumors develop from these cells early during development of the cerebellum, the brain region located at the back of the head,” said co-corresponding author Dr. Tamra Werbowetski-Ogilvie, professor of pediatrics, hematology-oncology at Baylor, Texas Children’s and adjunct professor at the University of Manitoba. “We already knew that OTX2 is a transcription factor in these stem cells – it helps the cells transcribe the instructions in the genes into functional proteins. Here, we investigated what other roles OTX2 could play to generate medulloblastoma.”
The researchers conducted a comprehensive screening of the proteins that interact with OTX2 in the cell. “We confirmed the usual suspects, proteins involved in transcription, but unexpectedly, we discovered that OTX2 also interacts with other proteins called splicing factors.”
Splicing factors are involved in alternative splicing, a cellular process that allows cells to produce different proteins from the instructions encoded in a single gene. “Imagine that three cooks meet in the kitchen to bake a cake,” Werbowetski-Ogilvie said. “They all begin with the same instructions, but each cook adds a different twist to the cake. One