eractions was considered a bad bet. Some protein-protein interactions are weak, with binding partners that are easily disturbed, making them harder to grab, King said.
His team's current work could conceivably add to success stories in protein-protein interactions.
"From a drug discovery standpoint, we think that perturbing the APC/C may be useful in certain therapeutic contexts related to cancer primarily and to the nervous system as well," King said. "One of the things we're examining now is how these compounds affect the ability of cancer cells to divide, especially because cancer cells have defects in some of the pathways that control chromosome segregation."
King said his lab is pursuing more potent forms of apcin based on the structure of the APC/C complex.
"Having the chemical tools now, we can easily screen cancer cells and ask if there are different lines that are particularly sensitive to this type of intervention," he said.
Explore further: Scientists map one of most important proteins in life—and cancer
More information: "Synergistic blockade of mitotic exit by two chemical inhibitors of the APC/C." Katharine L. Sackton, et al. Nature (2014) DOI: 10.1038/nature13660. Received 07 August 2013 Accepted 04 July 2014 Published online 24 August 2014
"Pharmacologic Inhibition of the Anaphase-Promoting Complex Induces A Spindle Checkpoint-Dependent Mitotic Arrest in the Absence of Spindle Damage." Xing Zeng, Frederic Sigoillot, Shantanu Gaur, Sungwoon Choi, Kathleen L. Pfaff, Dong-Chan Oh, Nathaniel Hathaway, Nevena Dimova, Gregory D. Cuny, Randall W. King. DOI: dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ccr.2010.08.010