teamanandtech.org

On March 22 the WCG team wrote:We are excited to share an update from the Smash Childhood Cancer team about the start of the new phase in their quest for curing cancer. The new target protein is MyoD1 (Myogenic Differentiation 1 protein) and one of its mutations, L122R. MyoD1 is a transcription factor that activates muscle-specific genes, and is involved in the switch between cell growth and cell differentiation. The loss of control over this switch can cause the formation of rhabdomyosarcomas.

L122R is a mutation frequently found in rhabdomyosarcoma, and it is linked to a worse prognosis. Considering the crystal structure deposited in Protein Data Bank, the goal is to find compounds that act on the mutant-type but not on the wild-type.

New SCC work units have been prepared to help with the search, and volunteers who follow this project will be able to download them once we restart BOINC after the storage failure.