Alexey Amunts

Project summary

Mitoribosomes and cancer

Cancer cells grow and divide much more rapidly than normal cells. To sustain this rapid growth, cancer cells require more energy than normal cells produce. The key to tackling cancer may therefore lie in the mitoribosomes found in the cell’s powerhouses – the mitochondria. Using cryo-electron microscopy, Alexey Amunts’s research project aims to deepen our mechanistic understanding of mitoribosomes at the atomic level and use this knowledge to design drugs capable of stopping the growth of cancer cells.

 

Cancer cells grow and divide much more rapidly than normal cells. It is this rapid, uncontrolled growth that ultimately leads to the formation of tumours. To sustain such growth, cancer cells require more energy than normal cells. They are therefore more dependent on their powerhouses, the mitochondria. If this dependence could be disrupted, it might be possible to slow or even completely stop the growth of cancer cells. But how?

 

The key may be the mitoribosomes found within mitochondria. Mitoribosomes produce proteins that cells need to generate energy. Inhibiting mitoribosomes could therefore disrupt energy production. Using ribosome inhibition to stop uncontrolled cell growth is not a new concept: sixty per cent of the antibiotics used today act on bacterial ribosomes. But could a similar strategy work against mitoribosomes in cancer cells?

 

Researchers at Science for Life Laboratory have recently developed methods for extracting the difficult-to-access mitoribosomes from human cells. They have succeeded in visualising parts of the mitoribosome in detail, thanks to advances in cryo-electron microscopy. The researchers now aim to further develop this technology for rapid drug design. The goal of the research project is to deepen our mechanistic understanding of mitoribosomes at the atomic level and then use this knowledge to design drugs that specifically target mitoribosomes in order to stop the growth of cancer cells.