RPTU Researchers Uncover Key Molecular Mechanisms in Cancer Cells
Cancer cells have special adaptation mechanisms that allow them to proliferate despite changes in their genetic makeup. Researchers at RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau, Southwest Germany, have now helped to elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved. The findings could be an important milestone in the development of targeted cancer therapies.
The nucleus of every human cell contains chromosomes - 23 pairs, to be exact. These carry our genetic material, known as the genome, and are composed of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and proteins.
DNA stores genetic information and is therefore central to the inheritance of traits. Chromosomal changes can have serious consequences for the affected cells, including the development of cancer.
How such changes can occur and what exactly the consequences are, is the focus of the research of Professor Zuzana Storchová, Head of the Molecular Genetics Department at RPTU.
In a recent article published in the EMBO Journal, the researchers took a closer look at a common genetic feature of cancer cells, known as aneuploidy. “When a cell is aneuploid, it has an altered set of chromosomes,” explains Storchová.
The researchers carried out many different experiments to understand the molecular mechanisms that enable aneuploid cells to adapt in this way. For this, they used modern methods of biotechnology and bioinformatics, such as next-generation DNA sequencing and mass spectrometry.
Therefore, they concluded that there are three ways in which cancer cells adapt to the presence of extra chromosomes:
Ref: Jan-Eric Bökenkamp, Kristina Keuper, Stefan Redel, Karen Barthel, Leah Johnson, Amelie Becker, Angela Wieland, Markus Räschle, Zuzana Storchová (2025). Proteogenomic analysis reveals adaptive strategies for alleviating the consequences
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