// Oncomodulin regenerative agent? /
Ok, this is wicked cool.
"Working in Benowitz's lab, Yin took a closer look and found that the macrophages secreted an essential but as-yet unidentified protein. Further studies revealed it to be oncomodulin, a little-known molecule first observed in association with cancer cells.
"Out of the blue, we found a molecule that causes more nerve regeneration than anything else ever studied," Benowitz says. "We expect this to spur further research into what else oncomodulin is doing in the nervous system and elsewhere."
For oncomodulin to work, it must be given along with an agent that raises cell levels of cyclic AMP, a "messenger" that initiates various cellular reactions. Increased cyclic AMP levels are needed to make the oncomodulin receptor available on the cell surface."
"Working in Benowitz's lab, Yin took a closer look and found that the macrophages secreted an essential but as-yet unidentified protein. Further studies revealed it to be oncomodulin, a little-known molecule first observed in association with cancer cells.
"Out of the blue, we found a molecule that causes more nerve regeneration than anything else ever studied," Benowitz says. "We expect this to spur further research into what else oncomodulin is doing in the nervous system and elsewhere."
For oncomodulin to work, it must be given along with an agent that raises cell levels of cyclic AMP, a "messenger" that initiates various cellular reactions. Increased cyclic AMP levels are needed to make the oncomodulin receptor available on the cell surface."