"Professor, I plan to take this research as a long-term project. Do you think that’s appropriate?" Zhang Lin was excited about the breakthroughs in his research.
Yang Ping encouraged him, "As long as you believe it’s right, without any deception, and you conduct research earnestly, even if there’s no final result, it’s not an issue."
Leaving Zhang Lin’s laboratory, Yang Ping returned to his office to rest.
Electronic screens displayed various data: on the left was the high-resolution structural analysis of the pancreatic cancer PANC-ID1 complex on the cell mbrane, conducted by Lu Xiaolu’s team; in the center was the cryo-electron tomography image of the PAC-FUS1 fusion protein tumor provided by Catherine Miller; on the right was the 3D predictive model of the osteosarcoma-specific surface antigen that just arrived from the Orthopedics Tumor Laboratory.
Yang Ping had been sitting in front of these three sets of data for four hours.
The teacup had long cooled, yet he remained unaware, his fingers slowly sliding across the touchpad, rotating, zooming, and overlaying the three structural images.
Over the past few months, the global promotion of the K Therapy had proceeded according to plan, and vaccine enhancer technology quietly garnered patent fees from multinational pharmaceutical groups. Now, Yang Ping’s full attention was on the essence of cancer cell identity locks.
Why is PANC-ID1 a common marker for most pancreatic cancers?
Why does the PAC-FUS1 fusion protein replace PANC-ID1 as the identity marker for another type of pancreatic cancer?
Why is there a similarly highly specific protein complex present on the surface of osteosarcomas?
These questions haunted the depths of his mind like specters.
It was after four in the afternoon.
Yang Ping suddenly perford a peculiar operation; he turned off all color rendering and converted the three structural models entirely into grayscale electron density cloud maps, removing visual interference caused by colors, leaving only the most essential shapes.
Then, he adjusted the three models to similar size proportions and arranged them side by side.
At that mont, he held his breath.
Despite low sequence homology, different subunit compositions, and variance in cellular mbrane localization, the core regions of the three structures exhibited a startling topological similarity.
It was a multi-layered, asymtric helix-loop-helix composite architecture, resembling so ancient cipher lock chanism, with the core ford by a highly ordered pocket or groove composed of hydrophobic amino acids. Among the three, the shape, charge distribution patterns, and even the spatial arrangent of certain critical hydrogen bond donors/acceptors in this core region shared undeniable commonality.
Yang Ping quickly summoned the biochemical properties data for the three. The core pocket of PANC-ID1 had been confird to bind with specific endogenous lipid molecules, and such binding subtly altered the complex conformation, affecting downstream signals. Despite the exogenous sequence integration in PAC-FUS1’s core region, molecular dynamics simulation showed it retained the ability to bind similar lipid-like molecules, only the affinity was altered. In the predictive model of the osteosarcoma target, the corresponding region also exhibited highly hydrophobic characteristics.
"Not a coincidence..." Yang Ping murmured softly, his fingertips slightly trembling.
He casually grabbed an A4 paper and started scribbling with a pencil.
Tumor Identity Lock Lineage Hypothesis:
The surface antigen complexes of PANC-ID1 (pancreatic cancer), PAC-FUS1 variant (specific pancreatic cancer subtype), and OS-ID1 (osteosarcoma) share a unique "topological folding pattern" in tertiary/quaternary structure, centered around an evolutionarily conserved hydrophobic binding pocket.
These seemingly distinct tumor surface markers may belong to the sa functional superfamily. They are not completely independent inventions but based on so ancient cell surface recognition module, possibly originating from embryonic developnt, tissue repair, or cell communication, abnormally recruited, modified, or fixedly expressed during tumorigenesis.
The core function of this module might not be carcinogenic in itself but to provide an identity authentication interface. Under normal physiological conditions, it might participate in limited, strictly regulated intercellular recognition, such as specific stem cell niches or tissue boundary maintenance. Cancer cells hijacked this interface, transforming it into an identity lock for maintaining their survival community or evading immune surveillance.
If such "identity locks" are a lineage, then theoretically, a corresponding "key" series—K Factor series—might exist. Previously discovered K Factor on osteosarcomas and their corresponding targets present a perfect key-lock combination.
If these identity locks are assud to be a family series, then K Factor should also have a family series. If we can unlock the intrinsic rules within these series, we can reverse-engineer K Factors to open the locks.
Different tumor types, even different subtypes of the sa tumor, might select different structural variants within the lineage as their locking chanisms. The key now lies in mapping a complete "lock" lineage; finding or designing a "key" that can unlock specific locks.
After completing these thoughts, Yang Ping leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes. Yet, the image in his mind grew even clearer: not just a single target, not just a single therapy, but a complete, hidden recognition system, a set of identity language concealed by cancer cells, a thoroughly undiscovered theory.
This is no longer as simple as discovering a new target; it is an attempt to decipher so entirely new chanism of cancer.
Song Zimo, Tang Shun, and Lu Xiaolu had been knocking on the door for quite so ti, with no response from Yang Ping. When he snapped out of his contemplation, vaguely recalling the knocking sound, he opened his office door.
Upon seeing Yang Ping unhard, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. They knew the professor often ditated with his eyes closed, imrsing himself in thought, yet occasionally, there remains a bit of concern.
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