left to right: Dr Gianluca Farrugia, Prof. Rena Balzan, Ms Maria Azzopardi
Ongoing research led by Professor Rena Balzan at the Yeast Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Laboratory at the Department of Physiology and Biochemistry and the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Biobanking at the University of Malta, was presented at the 12th International Meeting on Yeast Apoptosis held in Bari in May 2017.
This prestigious conference involves scientists from around the world who use yeast as an experimental model and toolbox to study basic biological processes in eukaryotic cells, including those associated with stress response, ageing, and various human diseases such as cancer and neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson鈥檚, Huntington鈥檚 and Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. These yeast models also hold great promise for the discovery of novel medicinal compounds.
The researchers at the University of Malta, including mainly Dr Gianluca Farrugia and Ph.D. student Maria Azzopardi, are studying the harmful pro-oxidant effects of aspirin that they observed in redox-compromised yeast cells, but not in normal cells where aspirin behaves as an antioxidant. Redox-compromised yeast cells, much like cancer cells, suffer from oxidative stress. The results presented at the conference show that aspirin also compromises the formation of glutamate in these cells. In fact, the addition of glutamate, which besides its role in mitochondrial energy production, is also important in the synthesis of the master antioxidant glutathione, partially rescues the yeast cells from aspirin-induced programmed cell death, thus counteracting the effects of aspirin. These studies may throw light on how aspirin can selectively target cancer cells, and are in line with results that are emerging from ongoing research and clinical trials indicating that the daily intake of aspirin in low doses for at least five years, under medical supervision, decreases the risk of developing some types of cancer.
The presented research work forms part of Project R&I-2015-001 which is financed by the Malta Council for Science & Technology through the R&I Technology Development Programme.
