Key protein is linked with drug resistance

RIVERSIDDE, Calif., Sept. 27 (UPI) -- A U.S. study has linked human drug resistance with a key protein by analyzing plant cell biology.

While prescription medications work successfully in some people, in others the same drug can cause an adverse reaction or no response at all.

University of California-Riverside Assistant Professor Sean Cutler used Arabidopsis thaliana -- a plant in the mustard family -- to analyze such drug response variations.

Cutler discovered a key protein in the plant that creates drug resistance -- UDP-glycosyltransferase -- is a member of a family of proteins that also affect drug sensitivity in humans.

"Similar biochemical processes are affecting drug sensitivity in both plants and animals," Cutler said. "These similarities suggest that plants can be useful for studying problems of human interest like drug responses."

The study, that included researchers Cynthia Larive and Albert Korir, as well as biologists at the University of Toronto and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, appears in the online edition of the journal Nature Chemical Biology.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International

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