REGULATION OF MICROTUBULE DYNAMICS BY LIM KINASE1 (LIMK1)

Funding Activity

Website
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/395517

Funding Status
Closed

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Funded Activity Summary

Disseminated cancer, unlike the localized disease, can rarely be cured by drug therapy. We have found that LIM kinase (LIMK1), a protein that was discovered in our laboratory, plays an important role in controlling the ability of tumour cells to spread, a process called metastasis. Thus, this protein becomes an important target for the development of new drug therapies to prevent the spread of cancer. We have found that LIMK1 is very important in controlling the polymerisation of one of the most abundant molecules in the cell, actin. We have now preliminary data to show that LIMK1 also controls another important cellular protein, tubulin. Changes in tubulin polymerisation are of extreme importance for cell division and drugs affecting the state of tubulin are very potent as anti-cancer drugs. The goals of this research are: (1) To confirm that LIMK1 regulates the polymerisation of tubulin and (2) To demonstrate that LIMK1 regulates tubulin polymerisation by controlling the activity of p25, a protein involved in tubulin polymerisation that is modified by LIMK1. The results from this research will be highly significant because LIMK1 is a novel drug development target. Drugs that inhibit this protein may block the ability of tumours to invade and metastasise. Therefore, we have to identify the other functions of LIMK1 to eliminate the possibility that drugs that inhibit LIMK1 and metastasis don't affect other organs and cells in the body. New molecules regulated by LIMK1 may also be suitable targets for drug development because through their inhibition we may also regulate other LIMK1 activities and possibly metastasis.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2006

End Date: 01-01-2008

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $386,020.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Biochemistry and Cell Biology

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

Cancer metastasis | Neurological disorders | Protein kinases | Regulation of microtubule disassembly | The cytoskeletal proteins, actin and tubulin | Williams syndrome

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