Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have identified a previously unknown protein called MSEP. It is made from an RNA molecule that scientists had previously thought did not encode a protein.
Both MSEP and the RNA molecule help maintain the machinery that pulls chromosomes apart when a cell divides. The team studied each one separately in cultured cells to understand how they work.
The researchers also found higher levels of MSEP in the cancer cell lines they examined. When they reduced the RNA or interrupted MSEP production in cultured cervical cancer cells, the cells grew less.
The findings may help scientists understand what goes wrong in some cancers, but the researchers stress that it is too early to say whether MSEP could become a treatment target. More work is needed in tumors and other tissues.
