Double Pack - Cancer Researchers in Berlin Confirm Existence of a Second Protection System for Cells – It Blocks Lymphoma Development

Cells under stress apparently possess two different safety systems that prevent them from turning into cancer cells. Apoptosis is one such system, which enables damaged cells to literally commit suicide in order to protect the organism as a whole. The second protection program stops the cell cycle, and – although the cells stay alive – they are prevented from further dividing a behavior that would lead to malignant growth. Evidence suggesting the existence of this second system was found a few years ago in the culture dish. Now, using animal models, cancer researchers from the Charité University Medicine Berlin and the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch in Germany have been able to confirm this second program termed senescene (Latin: senex = “old age”) and they could show that this program is capable of blocking lymphoma development. The work of Melanie Braig under the guidance of Charité- and MDC-based principal investigator Prof. Clemens A. Schmitt has now been published online in Nature* (doi:10.1038/nature03841).