Cancer tumour growth cells 'not invincible'

(I-Newswire) August 24, 2009 - One of the reasons for this was thought to be that the cells which drive the growth of tumours and resist treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation were invincible.

However, this theory has been put to the test by healthcare experts in the US and claim that these particular cells may be able to be targeted and, ultimately, destroyed.

The result could be a rapid decline in the number of individual health insurance customers suffering long illnesses from the disease, said Piyush Gupta, lead author of the report from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Broad Institute, where the study was conducted.

According to the specialist, a certain type of compound may hold the key to eradicating the body of these cells, which contribute to the millions of deaths each year from the condition.

In tests conducted on mice, Dr Gupta found that the drug Salinomycin reduced the proportion of breast cancer stem cells by more than 100-fold compared to a commonly used chemotherapeutic drug for breast cancer called Paclitaxel.

In addition, the Salinomycin-treated cells were less able than Paclitaxel-treated ones to seed tumours when injected into the animals, with Salinomycin treatment also slowing the growth of the animals' tumours.

"To date, rational cancer therapies have been designed to target specific genetic alterations present within tumours. The findings here indicate that a second approach may also prove useful - namely, searching for agents that target specific states of cancer cell differentiation," the study authors stated.

Even though recent investigation carried out by American Association for Cancer Research showed that the number of people with private health cover dying from the disease has fallen steadily over the last 30 years, this new research may be able to slash mortality further, they explained.

"Accordingly, future therapies could offer greater possibilities for individualized treatment by considering both the genetic alterations and differentiation states present within the cancer cells of a tumour at the time of diagnosis," the team concluded.

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