But surprisingly, the improvement in brain cell survival rates occurred only in male mice, and was far more pronounced in males for photoreceptor cells as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t know why that is,\u201d Fu says. \u201cBut we have some potential leads.\u201d<\/p>\n Fu suspects that additional genetic and molecular factors, including hormones and other cellular proteins, affect a cell\u2019s response to chemotherapy. For example, the XY chromosome cells found in males have different mechanisms for triggering cell death than the XX chromosome cells found in females.<\/p>\n \u201cSo that brings up an intriguing point, that male and female cells die in different ways depending on what they are exposed to,\u201d Fu says. \u201cIf you give a male and a female the same dose of chemotherapy, it could have completely different effects.\u201d<\/p>\n Fu will continue to study the role of ALKBH7\u2014now taking the possibility of sex-specific behaviors of the protein into account. Further research on ALKBH7 will help to determine:<\/p>\n In addition, in a previous study, Fu found that cells lacking ALKBH7 have a greater number of mutations after chemotherapy compared to cells with ALKBH7. \u201cThus, we have to weigh the cost\/benefit of increasing the survival rate of normal cells with the increased risk of mutation and cancer,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cBy gaining a better understanding of how cells respond to chemotherapy, we are hoping to make these therapies more targeted for certain kinds of cells, such as a cancer cells\u2014and also, importantly, to lessen the affects they have on our normal cells,\u201d Fu says.<\/p>\n The study is a continuation of research Fu began prior to coming to Rochester, when he was an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellow in the lab of study co-author Leona Samson, a professor of biological engineering at MIT. Samson is an expert in how cells respond to chemotherapy. While in Samson\u2019s lab, Fu collaborated with lead author Jennifer Jordan, a postdoctoral fellow, on uncovering the role of ALKBH7 in triggering cell death after chemotherapy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Researchers have identified a protein that is required for cell death after undergoing chemotherapy\u2014at least, it appears, in male mice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":286,"featured_media":268002,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[132,18722,29742,29502,27132,16072],"class_list":["post-267972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sci-tech","tag-cancer","tag-department-of-biology","tag-dragony-fu","tag-featured-post-side","tag-natural-sciences","tag-school-of-arts-and-sciences"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"graphic](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Fu-chemo.gif\")
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