Considered to be the evil of the century, cancer would have a much greater impact in industrialized countries, especially in Europe. Never...
Considered to be the evil of the century, cancer would have a much greater impact in industrialized countries, especially in Europe. Nevertheless, mortality rates related to the disease are relatively equivalent between the latter and the underdeveloped countries.
According to the WHO, 15 million people will discover that they have cancer by 2020, this disease being the second leading cause of death in the world. In fact, about 1 in 6 deaths worldwide is caused by cancer. That is, about 70% of cancer deaths occur in the least developed countries.
However, thanks to many organizations, research is advancing considerably to develop more effective and less aggressive treatments for patients. For example, a team from Northwestern University discovered a molecule of self-destruction of cancer cells.
A new hope of healing
Researchers at Northewestrern University have shared a new hope for healing for people with cancer, as reported by our colleagues at Medical News Today: molecules that can block the proliferation of cancer cells in the body.
The mechanism results in the creation of small RNA (ribonucleic acid) molecules that simultaneously eliminate all the genes essential for the proliferation of fast-growing malignant cells, with little adverse effect on normal and healthy cells.
With data from previous studies (more than 70 references) of which, Professor Marcus Peter and his colleagues have identified the fatal process triggered by small RNA molecules. Nicknamed DISE (death by induced survival) in other words, a death induced by the elimination of the next gene, this mechanism could eventually radically eliminate the cancer cells present in the body. The researchers thus identified sequences of six nucleotides. When examining these sequences, it appeared that many RNA molecules were naturally produced by our body to inhibit the expression of genes responsible for the proliferation of cancer cells. This mechanism would have been present in our cells for hundreds of millions of years according to Marcus Peter: "We think that this is how multicellular organisms have eliminated the development of the 500 million-year-old adaptive immune system."
A breakthrough that changes the game
However, the research team still needed to understand how the body produced these small RNA molecules that could trigger the self-defense mechanism. This discovery appeared in a new study, relayed by the Feinberg School of Medicine.
"Now that we know the code of destruction, we can trigger the mechanism without chemotherapy and without manipulating the genome," said Marcus Peter. He also notes that if new-generation drugs and gene therapy approaches fail when it comes to aggressive cancers (pancreas, lung, brain and ovary) it's because they target the activity of only one gene at a time, while the tumors are driven by a multitude of genes.
On the other hand, the DISE mechanism destroys the cancer cells during a brutal simultaneous attack. He explains :
"It's like committing suicide by stabbing yourself, shooting yourself and jumping off the roof at the same time. No chance of surviving.
Marcus Peter tested this treatment in collaboration with Dr. Shad Thaxton, associate professor of urology at the Feinberg School of Medicine. In a study published in Oncotarget, researchers injected killer molecules into mice with predominantly human ovarian cancer. As a result, the treatment resulted in a significant reduction in tumor growth without adverse side effects.
"Based on what we have learned in these studies, we can now design much more powerful artificial microRNAs than those developed by nature," concluded Marcus Peter.
Of course, further testing and testing needs to be done for this potential cancer treatment trail to emerge.
