Some cancer studies have been running 20 years or more, and many products on antibody databases have been there just as long. Widely used in basic screening protocols, they can still throw up surprises even today. Recently, a seemingly basic antibody assay against the Wilms tumour gene, WT1, revealed an exciting new â€cancer cleaning†enzyme that could be developed for therapeutic use. Much research has been carried out on the causes of Wilms’ tumour, which causes sporadic and inherited embryonic kidney malignancies in 1 in 10,000 infants. We at Novus Biologicals have a wide range of Wilms Tumour immunoglobulins on our antibody database. WT1 is known to be expressed in a number of other cancers including adult breast and lung tumours. In developing embryos, the non-mutated form of WT1 acts as a tumour suppressor. It is essential for normal kidney development. Several transcript variants of WT1 have been identified, and it binds to a range of other cellular factors, among them the tumour suppressor p53. This makes it a useful marker for targeting other oncogenes, meaning WT1 antibodies are widely used in cancer studies. Extensive research has been conducted over the past 20 years into the role WT1 plays in cancer formation, but its action is poorly understood. A team from Manchester University, led by Dr Joerg Hartkamp and Dr Stefan Roberts, have been researching ways of modifying WT1 at its domains, using antibody tagging and other techniques. Recently, they uncovered exciting new evidence while carrying out baseline studies with the protease HtrA2. Their results showed that HtrA2 acts as a â€cell cleaning†enzyme against WT1, something that was totally unexpected. They are now developing HtrA2 antibody trials against other transcription factors, as it’s unlikely WT1 is the only oncogene that’s cleaved. The research opens new doors for antibody suppliers, and proves why it is so important to carry out basic studies when looking at ways to combat cancer.
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