London – The cellular duplication process is also controlled by stimuli coming to the cell from the outer environment by activating some receptors on its surface, which function as proliferation switches. Eliminating these switches after they have performed their physiological function is crucial: excessive proliferation is in fact typical of cancer cells. A group of researchers led by Pier Paolo di Fiore and Sara Sigismund of IFOM and the State University of Milan, in collaboration with the Experimental Imaging Center headed by Professor Carlo Tacchetti of the IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital, unveiled one of the mechanisms through which the cell reabsorbs one of these receptors, called EGFR, and eliminates it. The discovery, published on the prestigious Science magazine, is possible thanks to the support of AIRC, which opens up new research prospects in the battle against several cancers – such as brain, colon, lung, and breast – in which the EGFR receptor is abnormally present. (9colonne)
