Skipping to ward off ageing

Alternative splicing is a regulatory pathway that can can change the messenger RNA produced from a gene and subsequently the proteins that are generated. If we can change the message by alternative splicing, we can change the protein that is made, or even cause the protein to be degraded. Splicing means that even without changing your genes you can change their product. Glo1 is an enzyme that is intimately involved in ageing, cancer and diabetes. In cancer, tumors end up expressing lots of Glo1, and as a result, the tumours become resistant to chemotherapeutics. We are going to use alternative splicing to specifically change the activity of Glo1 in cancer cells. The end result should be that we can make tumors more susceptible to chemotherapy.