A team of scientists from Griffith University's Institute for Glycomics have recently made history when they managed to release the first 3D image of a protein that is linked to the spread of cancer. Back then, scientists needed to guess what the appearance of the structure is. Now, however, they now have a clear three-dimensional model to see how the cancer-spreading protein works. Also, the scientists are now capable of developing targeted medicines to halt its progress before they can do more damage to the system.

The 3D model is of a cancer-spreading protein, which is known to be a bacterial heparanase. According to reports, a bacterial heparanase is an enzyme that can break down certain sugars. According to von Itzstein, the functionally identical human enzyme is over-expressed in cancers and is recognized to be associated with angiogenesis (a process that new blood vessels form out of pre-existing vessels) inflammation and increased metastatic potential, making it a promising drug target.

The 3D model of the cancer-spreading proteins was mapped by using a technique called X-Ray crystallography. According to the institute's director, Professor Mark von Itzstein, the image is very well defined that it displays both the structure of the whole protein and its details to the atomic-level. The image was revealed on Nov. 2 in the prestigious journal Nature Chemical Biology in 'Functional and structural characterization of a hepranese' by von Itzstein and his team.

"We have successfully crystallized and determined the structure of the enzyme by X-ray crystallography, making it the first reported heparanase X-ray crystal structure in the world," said von Itzstein. "This tells us exactly where substrates bind in the catalytic domain and we explored this region by mutating certain amino acids that kill the activity so that we can understand how the enzyme works."

The research has been in development for 10 years, and the scientists will now turn its focus on developing a novel anti-cancer drug. Furthermore, they are now making great advances towards the discovery of new drugs, vaccines and diagonistics for diseases that include cancer.

Those that are interested in reading further reports can check out more coverage at popular science website phys.org, or see the full journal of functional and structural characterization of a hepranese at nature.com.