A research team led by Purdue University’s W. Andy Tao has discovered a new type of protein modification related to cellular mutation that impairs a crucial enzyme’s ability to help drive energy processes. Their discovery, published in Nature Chemistry, opens a new route to therapeutic cancer intervention.

“Mutation is considered the driving mechanism leading to cancer. Many mutations are hidden and harmless, but the mutation of enzymes like kinases can lead to the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells,” said Tao, a professor of biochemistry in Purdue’s College of Agriculture.

The study wades into the interactive dynamic complexity of the human genome (containing 20,000 to 25,000 genes) and the human proteome (containing more than 1 million proteins). The researchers identified a new modification on proteins because of the mutation in the isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) enzyme, which affects how kinase enzymes control protein function.