Catching Cancer with Protein! ... UNIST Research Team Develops Protein Complex with Enhanced Biological Efficacy

Example image of the mechanism of action of protein nano complexes.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hwang Dooyul] A new substance that induces cancer cell apoptosis to suppress cancer growth has been developed.

The research team led by Professors Kim Eunhee and Kang Sebyeong from the Department of Life Sciences at UNIST developed a protein nano-complex that dramatically enhances the in vivo efficacy of the TRAIL protein.

TRAIL protein is a protein that induces cell apoptosis. Excellent anticancer effects suppressing tumor growth were confirmed in actual animal experiments.

The protein complex developed by the research team was designed to block the ‘EGF receptor signaling pathway’ that interferes with the action of TRAIL.

The EGF receptor signaling pathway sends signals for cell survival and division, opposite to TRAIL.

When the growth factor called EGF protein binds to the EGF receptor, it generates chemical signals. The artificial protein component of the developed complex competes with the growth factor to bind to the receptor, thereby interfering with signal transmission.

The artificial protein (EGF receptor affibody protein) has a strong binding affinity to the EGF receptor, so it also selectively delivers the TRAIL protein to cancer cells that abnormally overexpress the EGF receptor.

To simultaneously deliver TRAIL and affibody proteins into the body, a cage-shaped protein (AaLS) surface was used to fix both proteins.

The anticancer effect of the developed protein nano-complex was confirmed in both skin cancer cell line experiments and animal experiments.

In particular, when this protein nano-formulation was intravenously injected into mice transplanted with cancer cells, tumor growth was significantly suppressed compared to the control group.

Table showing the efficacy of protein nano complexes confirmed through animal experiments.

The research team stated, “Our study presents a strategy that can simultaneously overcome TRAIL protein resistance, low cancer cell binding affinity, and instability of the TRAIL protein itself,” and added, “It is expected to be effective in treating specific cancers with abnormally developed EGF receptors.”

They also experimentally confirmed that the affibody protein improves targeted penetration performance within tumor tissues.

In experiments where various protein nano-complexes were injected into mice transplanted with cancer cells, strong fluorescent signals were detected in the tumor tissues only when the complex included the affibody protein.

The research team explained, “The protein nanoparticle-based technology presented in this study can be applied not only to anticancer drugs but also to the development of therapeutic technologies that control various signaling regulators in vivo.”

Doctoral researcher Jeon Heejin, PhD Kim Hansol, and research professor Jang Eunjeong participated as first authors.

The research results were published on July 12 in the Journal of Controlled Release, a world-renowned journal in the field of drug delivery.

The research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea, University Focused Research Institutes, UNIST, and Ulsan City.

(Clockwise from the right) Jeon Hee-jin, PhD candidate researcher; Kim Eun-hee, professor; Yeo Mi-rae, PhD candidate researcher; Kang Se-byeong, professor

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.