Are your cancer cells stressed?

We're supposed to avoid stress but here's a case where stress may save your life. South Dakota State University scientists are investigating whether "stressing" cancer cells can make radiation and chemotherapy more effective.Professor Xiang...

We're supposed to avoid stress but here's a case where stress may save your life. South Dakota State University scientists are investigating whether %26quot;stressing%26quot; cancer cells can make radiation and chemotherapy more effective.

Professor Xiangming Guan of the Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences explains that when cancer cells are tired out, they are easier to kill using free radicals, the basic mechanism behind radiation and some chemotherapy drugs.

In case you've forgotten, free radicals are molecules. They pose a threat to cancer cells because these radicals steal electrons to regain their own stability.

%26quot;We have identified a compound which can effectively block this enzyme and create stress in cancer,%26quot; said Guan. %26quot;We have also demonstrated that the stressed cancer was more sensitive to radiation treatment in several different human cancer cells such as ovarian cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer and skin cancer.%26quot;

Current results show that the compound can also make cancer more sensitive to the widely used anticancer drug, doxorubicin. Doxorubicin is used for cancer of the bladder, breast, head and neck, leukemia (some types), liver, lung, lymphomas, mesothelioma, multiple myeloma, neuroblastoma, ovary, pancreas, prostate, sarcomas, stomach, testis (germ cell), thyroid and uterus.

Sounds like good news for lots of people and bad news for cancer.




http://www.sdstate.edu