Investigators had culled the list of suspects down to two. But which one was the guilty party, or were both? The pair worked together so seamlessly, it was difficult to tell where one’s role began and the other’s ended. In some respects, they even looked alike.
Dana-Farber scientists have now teased apart the relationship between the two suspects — the proteins EP300 and CBP — to discover that EP300 is critical for a high-risk form of pediatric neuroblastoma. The finding, reported recently in the journal Cancer Discovery, led to the development of a compound that earmarks EP300 for destruction. When the compound was tested in neuroblastoma cells and animal models of the disease, it led to the rapid death of cancerous cells while having little effect on normal cells.
