Attacked by pterocarpane, a substance extracted from the roots of a Brazilian tree, human breast tumor cells are unable to form the structure needed to separate chromosomes in cell division. In their search for new cancer drugs, Glaucia Santelli’s group has identified the action mechanism of this compound that blocks cell proliferation. In the image obtained using confocal laser scanning microscopy, proteins that bring structure to the cells appear in green and blue whereas the genetic material is highlighted in red.
Photo sent by Glaucia Santelli
Biomedical Sciences Institute, University of São Paulo (ICB-USP)
