Cancer Cells' Growth, Death to Be Focus of UB Research

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A $5,000 grant from The Buffalo Foundation will fund research at the University at Buffalo into the reproduction and self-destruction mechanisms of cancerous cells.

The grant was awarded to Stephen T. Koury, UB assistant professor of clinical laboratory science.

According to Koury, a number of forms of cancer are thought to be caused by defective apoptosis (programmed cell death). He and his team use a model system of apoptosis in which cells stimulated by erythropoietin undergo a normal terminal differentiation, but those that are deprived of erythropoietin undergo apoptosis. They hope to identify the specific genes involved in apoptosis in this cell model so as to better understand the process.

The research could lead to the development of new drugs that would cause the death of malignant cells, as well as an ability to identify the genes that prevent malignant cells' death and allow the normal self-destruction to occur.

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