Word: triggered
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Dates: during 2010-2019
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...finding that bodes well for the development of new human antibiotics, Harvard researchers have determined the identity of the trigger that causes roundworm bacteria to excrete virulent substances...
Harvard Medical School Professor Jon Clardy teamed with researchers in the department of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology to pinpoint the amino acid proline—a component of hemolymph, or insect blood—as the trigger for the transformation of roundworm bacteria from dormant to virulent, eliciting comparisons of the bacteria to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde...
Researchers said that the ability to manipulate the trigger causing the bacteria to release virulent factors suggests the possibility of discovering a method to “switch off” the release of harmful substances in the human body...
...Professor Raghu Kalluri, who is associated with the BCMP department, said that the discovery of the proline trigger will serve as a useful example for scientists seeking to understand how cancer cells evolve and also how normal cells are co-opted by cancer cells in a given organ...
When normal cells are hijacked by cancer cells, the natural substances are similarly triggered to aid the proliferation of the cancer. Just as the Harvard scientists were searching for the transforming factor in the case of the roundworm, the trigger of how normal cells aid cancer cells in becoming lethal tumors is “the unknown everybody is going after right now in cancer research,” Kalluri said...