We request partial support for a Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology (FASEB) conference on AProtein Lipidation, Signaling and Membrane Domains@, July 20-25, 2002 at Tucson, AZ. This meeting will feature exciting developments in the area of signal transduction, cancer research, immunology and infectious diseases. One highly topical focus concerns lipid rafts, cholesterol-rich membrane domains that function as organizing centers for signal transduction. The importance of this type of membrane domain in signal transduction in Cancer and Immunology is becoming increasingly clear. This field is expanding rapidly and this meeting provides a timely platform to discuss developments. Another timely topic that will be featured at this meeting concerns farnesyltransferase inhibitors (FTIs), rationally-designed anti-cancer drugs derived from the study of protein lipidation. FTIs inhibit prenylation and membrane association of proteins such as Ras. They inhibit tumor growth or even regress tumors in a variety of animal model systems and are currently being evaluated in phase II and III clinical trials. Insight obtained from the use of FTIs as well as related inhibitors GGTIs will be discussed. We will also feature anti-parasite drugs; in addition to the use of FTIs as anti-parasite drugs, drugs based on the study of GPI biosynthesis are emerging. In addition, novel insight into enzymes catalyzing thioacylation has been obtained, including the potential identification of the elusive first protein; fatty acyltransferases. Structural studies of the enzymes involved in protein prenylation and myristoylation have yield understanding at an atomic level. Studies on the transport and biosynthesis of prenylated proteins are beginning to uncover a novel intracellular transport pathway. Finally, gene knockouts in mice as well as in plants continue to provide novel insight into biological significance of protein lipidation. This, combined with the utilization of genomics and proteomics, is yielding a whole genome view of protein lipidation. This meeting will be a premier conference on the topic of membranes and protein lipidation. Our unique focus on lipid rafts and their significance in signal transduction as well as focus on cancer therapy and anti-parasite strategies promises to bring together a wide range of researchers.
