LOXL2
Encyclopedia
Lysyl oxidase homolog 2 is an enzyme
that in humans is encoded by the LOXL2 gene
.
According to a BBC article on 2/22/11, "scientists at the UK's Institute of Cancer Research have prevented breast cancer spreading to other organs in mice by blocking the enzyme LOXL2 ". Their findings were published in Cancer Research. The authors found that LOXL2 was important in the early stages of cancer spread and that high levels of the enzyme were linked with cancer spread and poor survival rates so they used chemicals and antibodies to block the enzyme and stopped the metastasis.
Enzyme
Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...
that in humans is encoded by the LOXL2 gene
Gene
A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...
.
According to a BBC article on 2/22/11, "scientists at the UK's Institute of Cancer Research have prevented breast cancer spreading to other organs in mice by blocking the enzyme LOXL2 ". Their findings were published in Cancer Research. The authors found that LOXL2 was important in the early stages of cancer spread and that high levels of the enzyme were linked with cancer spread and poor survival rates so they used chemicals and antibodies to block the enzyme and stopped the metastasis.