Ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation
Degradación de proteínas mediada por ubiquitina
- Date
- 1978-1980 · confidence high
- Place
- Technion, Haifa, Israel
- Credited to
- Avram Hershko and Aaron Ciechanover, with Irwin Rose
- People
- 👤 Aarón Ciechanover1947–👤 Avram Hershko1937–👤 Irwin Rose1926–2015
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
They discovered that cells tag the proteins they must destroy by attaching chains of a small protein, ubiquitin, which directs them to the proteasome. It is the mechanism of quality control and cell-cycle regulation.
Some of the experiments were carried out at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia with I. Rose. Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2004.
What it led to
- proteasome-inhibitor drugs (bortezomib)
- targeted protein degraders (PROTACs)
- understanding of the cell cycle and cancer