In a new study, researchers have found a new way to make cancer stem cells reproduce defectively.
They successfully developed a method of tricking the cells into manufacturing new cells with no power source.
The finding may help create a new treatment to stop cancer growth.
The research was conducted by a team from the University of Salford, UK.
Previous research has shown that cancer stem-like cells are the root cause of chemotherapy resistance.
It can lead to treatment failure in patients with advanced disease and trigger tumor recurrence and metastasis.
In the study, the team focused on the energetics of cancer stem cells and aimed to find a way to disrupting their metabolism.
They achieved the goal using cheap, FDA-approved drugs and a common vitamin.
They created a ‘triple combination’ of vitamin C and two standard antibiotics – Doxycycline and Azithromycin.
The two antibiotics could be used to target the production of 13 key proteins, which cuts off the fuel supply in the stem cells. Vitamin C could act as a mild pro-oxidant to amplify the effects.
They found the new drug combo could reduce stem cell growth by more than 90% in laboratory tests.
The researchers suggest that their drug combo is cheap, and readily and because the dosages of antibiotics are vanishingly small, the method may avoid the potential problem of antibiotic resistance.
The leader of the study is Professor Michael Lisanti.
The study is published in Aging.
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