A journey from tyrosine to histidine phosphorylation: uncovering new cancer mechanisms

Cells are like creatures of habit—they follow the same cellular cycle over and over, coordinating the timing of gene and protein activation with growth and division. If this cycle is broken, things start to fall apart: Cells begin copying the wrong genes, turning on proteins at the wrong times or dividing too quickly or too slowly. All of these disruptions can lead to cancer. Understanding how a healthy cell controls its growth cycle can help researchers get a better grasp on what goes wrong in tumor cells when their growth spirals out of control—and how to fix it. But it’s hard to pinpoint which individual genes and proteins are most important.