A team of scientists in Singapore has made a discovery that could give hope to people with certain aggressive cancers. They found that an existing cancer drug could be used to target these types of cancer.
What Types of Cancer are They Talking About?
The specific cancers this drug could help are found in 15% of all cancer cases. They are often found in tough, aggressive tumors such as osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, and glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer.
These cancers are known to use a trick to stay “immortal”. They do this through a process called the alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT).
But the scientists have found that a drug called ponatinib blocks this process, making the cancer cells mortal again.
What Did the Scientists Do?
The scientists did experiments in the lab and with animals. They found that ponatinib shrank the bone tumors without causing weight loss. Weight loss is a common side effect of many cancer drugs.
They also found less of a marker for ALT cancer in mice treated with ponatinib compared to untreated mice. These findings have been published in a scientific journal called Nature Communications.
This research takes us closer to a new treatment option for these types of cancer. There are currently no targeted treatments approved for ALT cancers.
Who are the Scientists Involved?
The research was led by Dr. Maya Jeitany and a team of researchers from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
They worked together with other scientists from the National University of Singapore and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).
They want to address the problem of ALT cancers. While many cancer cells depend on the ALT mechanism to keep replicating, there’s currently no approved targeted therapy to combat this.
What Do Experts Say?
Valerie Yang, a medical oncologist who was not part of the study, said that this is very exciting news. “Sarcomas and glioblastomas are both complex cancers that often affect young people and have limited treatment options.
Finding an FDA-approved drug that can be repurposed to target ALT, a weak spot in these cancers, is very exciting.”
How Does the Cancer Cell Immortality Trick Work?
In each of our cells, there are structures called chromosomes that carry our DNA. Each chromosome is capped by a protective “hat” called a telomere.
Each time a cell divides, a bit of the telomere is naturally snipped off. When they become too short, the cell dies.
Most cancer cells get around this by turning on an enzyme called telomerase, which lengthens the telomeres so that the cells can keep replicating indefinitely.
But about 15% of cancers lengthen their telomeres through the ALT mechanism, rather than activating telomerase.
These types of cancers often resist chemotherapy, making the need for a targeted treatment even more urgent.
What’s Next?
The researchers are now trying to understand more about how ponatinib affects telomeres. They are also looking at potential combinations of ponatinib with other drugs for treating ALT cancers.
This study is a significant step forward in the quest to develop better treatments for some of the most aggressive cancers.
If you care about cancer, please read studies that coffee drinkers may halve their risk of liver cancer, and green Mediterranean diet could cut fatty liver disease by half.
For more information about health, please see recent studies about the best time to take vitamins to prevent heart disease, and results showing vitamin D supplements strongly reduces cancer death.
The study was published in Nature Communications.
Follow us on Twitter for more articles about this topic.
Copyright © 2023 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
