Researchers Isolate Protein Domain Linked to Tumor Progression

When a promising **cancer drug** reached clinical trials in the 1990s, researchers were disappointed by the debilitating side effects that limited the trials. The drug inhibited a family of enzymes known as **matrix metalloproteinases** (MMPs). Now, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have shown that creating drugs that inactivate a different part of the MMP enzyme could have the capacity to target the **tumor** without the damaging side effects. Their findings, which hold promise for improved cancer therapies, were published Feb. 5 in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). More "news.rpi.edu":[ http://news.rpi.edu/update.do?artcenterkey=2534]

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