Cancer Drug Efficacy

1-2-2 units · Undergraduate

Students probe the structural basis for the development of resistance to Gleevec by cancer patients. LC-MS is used to quantify the effect of Gleevec on catalysis by wild-type Abl kinase and a Gleevec-resistant variant (Module 4). Other potential drugs are tested as inhibitors of the Abl variant. Molecular graphics software is used to understand catalysis by Abl kinase, its inhibition by Gleevec, and the basis for drug resistance.