title: A long-range foresight for the medical application of apoptosis specifically induced by Dd-MRP4, Dictyostelium mitochondrial ribosomal protein S4, to cancer therapy.
abstract: Apoptosis (programmed cell death) is regarded as ultimate differentiation of the cell. We have recently demonstrated that a targeted delivery of Dd-MRP4 (Dictyostelium mitochondrial ribosomal protein S4) suppresses specifically the proliferation of the human cancer cells, by inducing their apoptotic cell death (Chida et al., 2014, doi:10.1186/1475-2867-14-56). This amazing fact was discovered, simply based on the finding that Dd-MRP4 expression is absolutely required for transition of Dictyostelium cells from growth to differentiation (Chida et al., 2008, doi:10.1186/1471-2156-9-25; Maeda et al., 2013, doi:10.3390/biom3040943). Dd-MRP4 protein has quite unique structural characters, in that it is highly basic (pI: about 11.5) and interestingly has several nuclear-localization signals within the molecule. In this review, we introduce briefly the efficacy of several apoptosis-inducing substances reported thus far for cancer therapy, and speculate the possible mechanisms, by which apoptosis is specifically induced by Dd-MRP4, on the basis of its structural uniqueness. We also discuss several issues to be solved for the medical application of ectopically expressed Dd-MRP4 in human cancer cells.
authors: Department of Developmental Biology and Neurosciences, Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, Aoba, Sendai 980-8578, Japan. kjygy352@ybb.ne.jp.
authors: Yasuo
authors: Y
authors: Maeda
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017209:Apoptosis; D004023:Dictyostelium / Q000166:cytology*; D006801:Humans; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D012269:Ribosomal Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D012269:Ribosomal Proteins; C031798:ribosomal protein S4