ERG

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most frequently diagnosed non-skin cancer in men worldwide and the fifth cause of cancer-related deaths. The introduction of serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) analysis constituted an important clinical tool for early PCa detection and disease monitoring, but this test has modest sensitivity and specificity and has limited prognostic value. This shows that there is an unmet need of novel diagnostic and prognostic markers for PCa clinical management.

Citing Michael Le Page in «New Scientist»:

«In many diseases, including cancer, DNA mutations create a stop codon in the wrong place. A single mutation can truncate a protein that should be 100 amino acids long to one that is just 15 long, rendering it completely useless. These are known as nonsense mutations, and they cause about 10 per cent of all genetic diseases.

It’s possible to make artificial tRNAs that recognise a premature stop codon, and instead of terminating the protein-making process, add the amino acid required to make a useful protein.

Citing Michael Le Page in «New Scientist»:

«In many diseases, including cancer, DNA mutations create a stop codon in the wrong place. A single mutation can truncate a protein that should be 100 amino acids long to one that is just 15 long, rendering it completely useless. These are known as nonsense mutations, and they cause about 10 per cent of all genetic diseases.

It’s possible to make artificial tRNAs that recognise a premature stop codon, and instead of terminating the protein-making process, add the amino acid required to make a useful protein.