An Austrian study investigated the extent to which purines, or purine synthesis, are involved in the development of cancer. According to the study, a defect in purine metabolism could be linked to the development of cancer, according to researchers from the Academy of Sciences in Austria led by Superti-Furga. Are purines in the diet then perhaps responsible not only for gout flare-ups but also for cancer?
The researchers explain that purines affect the activity of BRD4, a protein. Epigenetically, the protein BRD4 can be called a cancer marker because it can alter chromosomes that lead to disease. Purines subsequently influence BRD4 activity because the protein repeatedly plays a conspicuous and important role in disruptive processes. In cells, DNA determines which genes are active and which are inactive. If BRD4 interferes, errors and disturbances can occur that cause diseases such as cancer.
Cancer research has therefore asked the question of how purines can be regulated. Purines are carried by so-called solute carrier transport proteins, which play a crucial role in purine metabolism. An imbalance of this purine metabolism in cells leads to an incorrect reading of DNA and its transcription of chromatin. Chromatin is the material that chromosomes are made of. Purine metabolism and BRD4-dependent chromatin states are subsequently closely related.
If one now influences BRD4 with the help of cancer drugs, one finds that various cancers do not respond to so-called BET inhibitors and are resistant. The researchers, therefore, decided to manipulate purine metabolism instead to regulate BRD4.
Conversely, restoring BRD4 functionality works with adenylates (adenine: a component of DNA) present in healthy cells; this is also an important starting point for therapy of BRD4-induced cancers, the scientists believe. Adenine normalizes purine metabolism. The experts explicitly point out that it is not clear whether purines cause cancer or protect against cancer; however, a disturbance of the purine metabolism could be responsible for tumor development.
Source: www.heilpraxisnet.de