A famous cancer protein actually clumps together just like in Alzheimer's, but it does it to act as a "self-destruct" button for tumors.
bioRxiv · March 13, 2026 · 10.64898/2026.03.12.711438
Why it matters
The protein c-MYC is a notorious driver of cell growth in cancer, but researchers found it has a hidden ability to spontaneously clump into toxic amyloids that kill the cell. This suggests the body has a built-in failsafe where a protein meant to cause rapid growth can turn into a sticky aggregate to destroy a potential tumor from within.
From the abstract
As a master transcription factor, c-MYC governs a plethora of biological processes. Despite being a prominent oncoprotein, counterintuitively, c-MYC also possesses an intrinsic tumor suppressor activity through induction of apoptosis, a phenomenon known as "the paradox of c-MYC". Serendipitously, we discover that c-MYC is aggregation-prone, becoming detergent-insoluble upon heat shock. Even in the absence of heat shock, c-MYC assembles into soluble oligomers exhibiting characteristics of amyloid