A different donut hole

The cell cycle is an important target for cancer therapies, as arrest of the cycle can stop proliferation and send cells into apoptosis. But developing drugs that target the cycle has been difficult without detailed knowledge of the complex protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions that regulate it. Thus, characterizing the molecular architecture of cell cycle-regulating proteins and their binding complexes would be helpful.

Cyclacel Ltd. (Dundee, U.K.) and collaborators at Edinburgh University now have solved the three-dimensional atomic structure of human proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). The company thinks the development is an important prerequisite for work on its CYC102 research program focused on developing a new class of drugs to regulate PCNA function...