Drugs that block the function of oncogenic proteins hold great promise in the fight against cancer. Should cancer researchers also be attempting to design drugs that will interfere with the products of tumor suppressor genes? Explain

What will be an ideal response?


Oncogenic proteins lead toward cancer, because they have excessive or unregulated activity in comparison with the corresponding normal proteins. Blocking this activity with a drug molecule that simply clogs the active site of the oncogenic protein removes the danger. For a tumor suppressor gene, the danger lies in a loss of function, and there is generally no simple way for a drug molecule to restore a protein function that has been lost. It is therefore hard to see how we could achieve any useful effect on cancer by means of drugs that interfere with tumor suppressor gene products. A drug that simply inhibited their function would be expected to promote, not cure, cancer.

Biology & Microbiology

You might also like to view...

Whereas the Embden-Meyerhof pathway produces two molecules of pyruvate (net) for each glucose, the Entner-Doudoroff pathway produces one molecule each of ________ and ________.

What will be an ideal response?

Biology & Microbiology

A homologous pair of mitotic chromosomes will possess _______ alleles for each locus.

A. 2 B. 4 C. 8 D. 1 E. 50% of the

Biology & Microbiology

You are studying a newly-established nature preserve, and find that the biomass of herbivores within it is 10 kJ/m2. Based on the graph below, what would you predict about the primary productivity of the area relative to other ecosystems?

A. It would be higher than tundra, but lower than savannah. B. It would be higher than savanna, but lower then tropical forest. C. It would be higher than savannah, but lower than temperate forest. D. It would be higher than desert, but lower than tundra.

Biology & Microbiology

________ evolution starts with related species that have similar traits but, over time, the species undergo changes that cause them to have different traits.

a) divergent b) directional c) convergent d) stabilizing

Biology & Microbiology