A cancer breakthrough has been made. While there is still no real cure for cancer, this might come in a close second. Allegedly, Israeli scientists have found a way to turn cancer cells dormant so that those with these in their bodies can live full lives.
According to UPI, these researchers in Israel has found a method to turn cancer cells off using a drug that can dampen their growth. Because there are cases where people with dormant cancer cells go and live healthily, this is nothing short of an amazing discovery. Based on lab experiments, the proof-of-concept drug was found to have the ability to stop bone cancer cells from interacting with healthy cells around them, the Tel Aviv University researchers reported.
"We saw that the osteosarcoma cells treated with the selected microRNAs were unable to recruit blood vessels to feed their growth," head researcher Dr. Ronit Satchi-Fainaro said. "In order to keep these microRNAs stable in the blood, we needed to encapsulate them in a nanoparticle that circulates in healthy blood vessels, but that disembark and deliver the drug therapy at the leaky blood vessels that exist at tumor sites. We designed a nanomedicine that would have a special activation method at the tumor site in the target cell."
According to the researcher, even though their study centered on bone cancer cells, they believe the approach they used can be applied to other cancers as well. He also optimistically said that as long as cancer cells are dormant, cancer can be managed. People with thyroid lesions can live long lives without knowing they have cancer cells after all, he said.
In a related and much more optimistic news, scientists from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research also found that a new class of anticancer drugs can be promising. These drugs, called nutlins, can stop cancer growth by stimulating the cancer-suppressing gene found in human bodies. The gene is called p53.
The researchers confirmed that nutlins can cause cancer cells to destroy themselves, not just make them go to sleep or become dormant. Professor Andreas Strasser, the main researcher, said that now that there is a stronger understanding of how nutlins are destroying cancer cells, more research can be done on what drugs nutlins can be combined with. More research can now be done to determine what types of cancer patients will benefit the most from nutlins.