Development of Anti-Cancer Substance
Korea’s Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning announced on November 10 that a research team at the Medicinal Bioconvergence Research Center (Biocon) has developed a cancer-suppressing substance in collaboration with Yuhan Corporation, a cancer research team at the Samsung Medical Center, and Jeon Young-ho, Associate Professor of College of Pharmacy at Korea University.
The research group discovered on July 2012 that when KRS, an enzyme for protein synthesis, is excessively secreted in cancer cells, some of the enzyme moves to the cell membrane and expedites metastasis of the cancer cells. After discovering that, the group tried to develop a new anti-cancer substance by inversely suppressing the process of cancer metastasis caused by KRS.
In order to achieve their aim, the group transferred the technology to Yuhan. After taking over research findings, the Korean pharmaceutical company developed a substance that improves anti-cancer activity. Then, the firm verified the effectiveness of the substance by testing it on various models of cancer metastasis. In other words, the company succeeded in the development of a substance for a new anti-cancer drug.
Kim Seong-hoon, chief of Biocon and professor at Seoul National University, said, “If the substance is verified through clinical trials, the anti-cancer drug using this new substance will be a first-in-class drug for the first time in Korea.”
This study was published online in the November issue of Nature Chemical Biology, a monthly scientific journal.