University of Toronto researchers have uncovered why some cancers grow faster than others. The team led by Liliana Attisano, Professor in U of T’s Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, has identified a protein called NUAK2, which is produced by cancer cells to boost their proliferation and whose presence in tumors is associated with poor disease prognosis. Writing in the journal Nature Communications, the researchers show that blocking NUAK2 slows down cancer cell growth raising hopes that a drug could be developed to treat patients.
