The surfaceome and how it might help cancer patients

In 10 seconds? Scientists have developed a method that could be useful in identifying new tumor drug targets on the surface of tumor cells–which they have dubbed ‘the surfaceome’.

Why torture my tongue with this? What the heck is a ‘sufaceome’? Let me first provide some necessary cell biology background to ease your discomfort. If we liken our cells to restaurant kitchens, DNA serves as the recipe book for everything that needs to be produced by the chefs. mRNA functions as the individual recipes for each ‘order’ and proteins are the final food product (Think: T-bone or Tikka Masala). Scientists first looked at the DNA inside of our cells (the genome) to look for clues on how to tackle cancer and other diseases. With advancing technology, scientists shifted their attention to mRNA (the individual recipes) and proteins (the actual dishes) to get a clearer picture of cancer cells.