Work on studying the “cell guardian” began in 1982
Chief researcher at the Institute of Molecular Biology named after. V. Engelhardt RAS, Doctor of Biological Sciences Pyotr Chumakov, who had just received the State Prize in the field of science and technology for 2023 from the hands of the country’s president, told MK about his discovery.
Peter Mikhailovich Chumakov is the son of the outstanding Soviet virologist Mikhail Chumakov, who once created the polio vaccine. He himself became the developer of another vaccine — a vaccine against cancer. His research influenced the development of new approaches to the treatment of tumor diseases.
Chumakov achieved his first result in 1982, deciphering the structure of the TP53 gene. This gene turned out to be key in the process of malignant degeneration of cells.
– My work is related to research in the field of tumor suppression (the fight against mutations — Author). The p53 protein, which is located in the structure of the TP53 gene, is a kind of guardian of the cell that protects it from mutations. But when its functions are disrupted, a normal cell can quickly accumulate mutations and turn into cancer. This is the conclusion, in a nutshell, that I came to as a result of my work.
Petr Mikhailovich’s experiments showed that in most cases, human cancer cells contain mutant forms of the same p53 protein.
Having studied the oncogenic properties of the mutated gene, Pyotr Mikhailovich found substances that block its action and, based on them, developed oncolytic viruses that kill only cancer cells. Currently, they have successfully passed preclinical studies and have shown their effectiveness.