Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 24, 2026

Analysis of Translation Initiation During Stress Conditions by Polysome Profiling
Published on: May 19, 2014
Targeting translation for treatment of cancer--a novel role for IRES?
1Apoptosis Research Center, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, 401 Smyth Road, Ottawa, ON K1H 8L1 Canada. martin@mgcheo.med.uottawa.ca
Abstract:
Protein synthesis plays an important role in the regulation of cell proliferation. While the role of cap-dependent translation in cell transformation has been studied extensively another translation initiation mechanism, internal initiation of cellular mRNAs, emerged recently and is relatively unappreciated and poorly understood. Internal initiation is mediated by IRES elements that are found in the 5' untranslated region (5' UTR) of mRNA. Curiously, several oncogenes, growth factors and proteins involved in the regulation of programmed cell death contain IRES elements in their 5' UTRs. Internal initiation escapes many control mechanisms that regulate cap-dependent translation. In this review I will discuss the data supporting the hypothesis that selective translation of these factors may contribute to the survival of cancer cells under stressful situations, such as lack of nutrients, hypoxia, or therapy-induced DNA damage and contributes to the development and progression of cancer and to the establishment of cancer cells that are resistant to conventional therapies.
Related Concept Videos
Targeted Cancer Therapies
There are several types of targeted therapies against specific...
Targeted Cancer Therapies
There are several types of targeted therapies against specific...
Tumor Immunotherapy
Treatment Resistent Cancers
Experimental RNAi
Combination Therapies and Personalized Medicine
The combination of the drug acetazolamide and sulforaphane is a good example of combination therapy to treat cancer. The cells in the interior of a large tumor often die due to the hypoxic and...

