Seminar: Biochemistry | July 10 | 4 p.m.-5 p.m. | Room 8.2.30 (FCUL C8)
Wolfgang Link, Principal investigator at CSIC, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas Alberto Sols (CSIC-UAM), Arturo Duperier 4. 28029-Madrid, Spain
Caught in the Nuclear Trap: Novel strategies to fight Cancer and Emerging Viruses by Nuclear Export Inhibition
Host: Miguel Machuqueiro
The 2020 pandemic outbreak of a novel coronavirus underscores the urgent need for the development of antiviral drugs that target host factors essential for general viral replication pathways. The nuclear export of viral components mediated by the CRM1 (aka XPO1) is crucial in various stages of the viral lifecycle and assembly of many viruses including Sars-CoV2. In addition, cancer cells utilize the processes of nuclear-cytoplasmic transport to evade anti-neoplastic mechanisms. Several tumor-suppressive proteins have been shown to be excluded from the cell nucleus in cancer cells by CRM1 including FOXO3 and abnormal expression of CRM1 is oncogenic. Several inhibitors of CRM1 have been identified. We have developed virtual and wet screening technology to identify novel small molecule inhibitors for their potential development as new medicine to treat glioblastoma and for their development as general antivirals that could enable an immediate treatment for patients infected with emerging viruses.