Targeting an Enzyme Could Rewire Cancer Cells to Suppress Growth by up to 77% for Melanoma and Colorectal Tumors

Targeting an Enzyme Could Rewire Cancer Cells to Suppress Growth by up to 77% for Melanoma and Colorectal Tumors

Targeting an Enzyme Could Rewire Cancer Cells to Suppress Growth by up to 77% for Melanoma and Colorectal Tumors Eleven years of cancer research has proven fruitful for a scientist at Johns Hopkins who uncovered a new tumor-suppressive response that could lead to novel therapies targeting hard-to-treat cancers. The new study, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, showed that targeting a key process of how cells make proteins can inhibit cancer cells—and resolves what makes them so sensitive. The findings, published in the June 18, 2025 Cell Chemical Biology, open the door to potential new treatments for cancers with common genetic mutations. The researchers found that using a drug to inhibit the enzyme responsible for human RNA (rRNA) transcription—called RNA Polymerase 1, or Pol 1—triggered a unique stress response that rewires splicing, or the way cancer cells produce forms of proteins, to ultimately suppress tumor growth. “Ribosome biogen…