The Alpha Lipoic Acid Breakthrough by Burt Berkson

Author:Burt Berkson [Berkson, Burt]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harmony/Rodale
Published: 2010-05-06T16:00:00+00:00

Signal Transduction

Signal transduction is a popular term to the biologist but is rarely heard, yet, by the practicing M.D. An understanding of this process is essential for an understanding of cancer.

In 1994, I gave a series of lectures on signal transduction to a large audience of health professionals at a national conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I was surprised when, after about an hour, at least half of the audience sneaked out of the large conference room. Later, when I had an opportunity to question some of the people who slipped out, they said such information was far too technical for practicing doctors. Apparently, they just wanted to know some simple methods for treating patients, not some “high-level” biochemistry. One doctor told me the only course he had had in medical school on this subject was so difficult and stressful that he did not want to hear anything about biochemistry again. Sadly, this is how many doctors feel about the subject. Unfortunately for these doctors’ patients, knowledge of biochemistry and immunology is essential for understanding cancer and its treatment.

Signal transduction is a concept taught in every modern biochemistry and immunology course. It concerns the biochemical message that is passed from the envelope of the cell to the nucleus of the cell. Simply explained, when a messenger molecule binds to a receptor on a cell membrane, the cell membrane undergoes a chemical change. This change triggers a series of reactions that pass, in a bucket brigade fashion, from the cell membrane to the genes in the nucleus of the cell. Once the messenger molecule binds to the cell membrane, a preprogrammed sequence of events takes place within the cell. In the cell, certain processes remain dormant until a special messenger molecule triggers the signal by binding to the cell membrane.

One excellent textbook of cell biology eloquently compares the activating effect of a messenger molecule with the stimulation of a human reflex.3 To quote the authors, “In the knee-jerk reflex, for example, the nerve connections are already in place that can cause the leg to extend in response to a tap just below the knee, but the tap is needed to activate the reflex.” In an analogous way, a messenger molecule can initiate a cascade of chemical reactions in the cell that are already in place but not immediately active.

A normal cell becomes cancerous when a mutation in one of its proto-oncogenes (genes that when mutated may lead to cancer) occurs. Cells with these mutations may remain dormant for many years and never manifest themselves until a special signal messenger binds to the membrane of its cell. This messenger molecule may be a free radical or some other carcinogen. This messenger molecule may activate a strategic developmental pathway within a cell that leads to the cancerous condition. These molecular signals may be transmitted by other abnormal cells or, in some cases, parasites.

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