Shanghai scientists have figured out the structure and regulatory mechanism of a protein family in the human body highly associated with multiple genetic diseases and cancers, which is likely to bring about breakthroughs in medicine.

The discovery, made after years of study by the National Center for Protein Science, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, a branch of the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was published on Thursday on the website of the UK-based journal Nature.

The MLL family of proteins plays a crucial role in the proliferation, growth and development of cells, and their mutation can trigger the improper operation of cells and cause diseases.

For example, 70 to 80 percent of the incidence of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in childhood and 5 to 10 percent of the incidence of acute myeloid leukemia of adults is due to mutations in a protein in the family, according to Chen Yong, one of the lead scientists.

Similarly, mutations in other members of the protein family are associated with diseases such as congenital heart disease, prostate cancer and breast cancer, he said.

"That's why dozens of labs throughout the world have been dedicated to figuring out the structure of the proteins since the first protein family member MML1 was discovered in 1991," Chen said.

In the research, they found the structural differences of the mutations and how that disrupted the interaction of the protein, said Lei Ming, another lead scientist.

"These findings may provide unprecedented prospects in MLL research and give hints for future drug design for some human diseases," Chen said.

Scientists said the research was the fruit of collaboration among at least six labs, including those involving biochemistry and structural biology, at the National Center for Protein Science, a major facility located at the Shanghai Zhangjiang National Innovation Demonstration Zone, where a new integrated national science center will be constructed.

They also conducted diffraction experiments at the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, another significant facility in Zhangjiang.

"It's one of the important reasons that we can see the structure clearly," Chen said. (China Daily)