Cancer Therapy – New Cancer Treatment Discovered
B.C. cancer researchers have learned how lymphocytic cancer cells, seen in purple in this highly magnified blood smear, fool the body's immune system. (Wikipedia/Mary Ann Thompson)
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Discovery of killer cells has potential for targeted cancer therapies
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Scientists at Trinity College Dublin have made an important discovery concerning how fledgling cancer cells self-destruct, which has the potential of impacting on future cancer therapies. The Trinity research group, led by Smurfit Professor of Medical Genetics, Professor Seamus Martin and funded by Science Foundation Ireland, has just published their findings in the internationally renowned journal, Molecular Cell.
Professor Martin’s team has discovered how a process called ‘autophagy’ – which literally means ‘self-eating’ – plays an important role in safeguarding against the development of cancer. The discovery highlights an unexpected role for a killer protein, called Noxa, in triggering the self-eating process that leads cells in the early stages of cancer to literally eat themselves to death.
Normally, the process of autophagy is switched on when cells experience periods of starvation and in this context is beneficial by helping to keep the ‘wolf from the door’ until food reappears on the menu. However, the Martin laboratory has discovered that mutations in a gene called Ras, which is involved in approximately 30% of human cancers, triggers excessive autophagy leading to auto-destruction of the fledgling tumour cell. Mutant Ras was found to switch cells into the self-eating mode by ramping up the production of Noxa. The study suggests that autophagy represents an important natural safeguard against cancer development.
Importantly, the Trinity team also discovered that members of the Bcl-2 gene family could override this process, switching off the self-eating process and leading to survival of cancerous cells. This suggests that drugs targeting Bcl-2 might reactivate the natural self-destruction pathway and help to shrink tumours. The fact that mutant Ras triggers self-destruction of cells carrying this gene also helps to explain why the emergence of fully cancerous cells is relatively rare when we consider that the average human makes hundreds of billions of cells over the course of their lifetime.
Commenting on the findings, Professor Martin stated: “This discovery is an important step forward in our understanding of how cells in the early stages of cancer hit the autodestruct button and suggests new ways in which we may be able to re-activate this process in cancers that do manage to establish. This breakthrough has led directly from investment in research made by the Irish state over the past 10 years through important initiatives such as the establishment of Science Foundation Ireland.”
The work was carried out in the Molecular Cell Biology Laboratory at TCD’s School of Genetics and Microbiology by the research team led by Professor Martin and funded primarily through a major award from Science Foundation Ireland. The TCD research team is internationally recognised for its work on cell death control in cancer and immunity.
Contact:
Professor Seamus Martin
martinsj@tcd.ie
353-189-61289
Trinity College Dublin (source: Star Global Tribune)
Professor Seamus Martin
martinsj@tcd.ie
353-189-61289
Trinity College Dublin (source: Star Global Tribune)
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Cancer cells evade immune system: study
CBC News
Posted: Mar 2, 2011 8:12 PM PT
Last Updated: Mar 2, 2011 8:12 PM PT
B.C. cancer researchers have learned how lymphocytic cancer cells, seen in purple in this highly magnified blood smear, fool the body's immune system. (Wikipedia/Mary Ann Thompson)B.C. cancer researchers say they have discovered how some cancer cells evade the human immune system — a finding that could lead to new and more effective cancer treatment.
Researchers in the B.C. Cancer Agency's Centre for Lymphoid Cancer isolated the single cancer gene responsible for 40 per cent of primary mediastinal B cell lymphoma, a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and 15 per cent of all Hodgkin lymphoma cases.
Their study, published Wednesday in the international journal Nature, shows how cancer can work around a patient's immune system and cause the body's white cells to lose their ability to detect cancer cells.
The same cancer gene also causes the destruction of the protective white cells — a "double whammy" that leads to the growth of cancer among this sizable percentage of patients, the agency said in a release.
"It's always been puzzling how cancer cells are able to evade the immune system and continue to grow," said Dr. Christian Steidl, the study's lead author. "This study gives us unique insight into how they rearrange their chromosomes to do so."
Researchers in the field have long suspected that a defect in the immune system is implicated in the development of cancer, particularly lymphoid cancers, but research so far has yielded few clues.
"This is the first time we've been able to identify a concrete genetic mechanism for how that happens in these lymphomas," senior author Dr. Randy Gascoyne said.
The incidence of non-Hodgkin lymphoma has risen steadily over the last 50 years in North America.
The B.C. Cancer Agency study identifies a new "biomarker " that will accurately identify these lymphomas and can be used to engineer new drugs that specifically target this gene, the release said.
(source:CBC news, Canada)
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Turmeric fights colon cancer
ANI, Mar 3, 2011, 01.38pm ISTTurmeric fights colon cancer (Thinkstock photos/Getty Images)
Tel Aviv University researchers have discovered that turmeric's active ingredient called curcumin amplifies the therapeutic activity of highly toxic anti-inflammatory drugs used to fight colon cancer when used at high doses.
Turmeric, a bright yellow spice from south Asia belonging to the ginger family, is the main ingredient in curries — and ancient wisdom suggests that it's also good for your health.
Dr. Shahar Lev-Ari of Tel Aviv University's School of Public Health at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine and his colleagues have found that curcumin can fight cancer when used in combination with a popular anti-inflammatory drug, alleviating the inflammatory response caused when cancer takes root in the body.
A treatment based on this finding has already had promising results in human clinical trials.
"Although more testing will be needed before a possible new drug treatment is developed," says Dr. Lev-Ari, "one could combine curcumin with a lower dose of a cancer anti-inflammatory drug, to better fight colon cancer."
Research in the last few decades has shown that cancer is linked to inflammation. Several lines of evidence demonstrate that chronic inflammation in the stomach can cause gastric cancer and that inflammation in the liver from hepatitis can lead to liver cancer.
Dr. Lev-Ari and his colleagues found that Celecoxib, a popular anti-inflammatory drug commonly used to treat arthritis, also inhibits proliferation of colon cancer in laboratory settings.
Curcumin increases the anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory effects of Celecoxib while reducing its dose, thus reducing its toxic side-effects, including the rate of heart attack and stroke.
The results of the new study have been published in the journal Therapeutic Advances in Gastroenterology . Follow us on Twitter for more stories (source: Turmeric fights colon cancer - The Times of India )
Turmeric, a bright yellow spice from south Asia belonging to the ginger family, is the main ingredient in curries — and ancient wisdom suggests that it's also good for your health.
Dr. Shahar Lev-Ari of Tel Aviv University's School of Public Health at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine and his colleagues have found that curcumin can fight cancer when used in combination with a popular anti-inflammatory drug, alleviating the inflammatory response caused when cancer takes root in the body.
A treatment based on this finding has already had promising results in human clinical trials.
"Although more testing will be needed before a possible new drug treatment is developed," says Dr. Lev-Ari, "one could combine curcumin with a lower dose of a cancer anti-inflammatory drug, to better fight colon cancer."
Research in the last few decades has shown that cancer is linked to inflammation. Several lines of evidence demonstrate that chronic inflammation in the stomach can cause gastric cancer and that inflammation in the liver from hepatitis can lead to liver cancer.
Dr. Lev-Ari and his colleagues found that Celecoxib, a popular anti-inflammatory drug commonly used to treat arthritis, also inhibits proliferation of colon cancer in laboratory settings.
Curcumin increases the anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory effects of Celecoxib while reducing its dose, thus reducing its toxic side-effects, including the rate of heart attack and stroke.
The results of the new study have been published in the journal Therapeutic Advances in Gastroenterology . Follow us on Twitter for more stories (source: Turmeric fights colon cancer - The Times of India )
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