Death Switch Offers Fresh Hope for Cancer Patients
Reported May 28, 2010
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — A new research study shows a receptor once thought to trigger suicide in normal cells may actually trigger the growth of cancerous tumors.
Switching off a cell’s so called “death receptor” can stop and even reverse the growth of tumors in human tissue culture and mice, according to new research.
This discovery suggests a new strategy for cancer therapy. Normally, when the “death receptor” CD95 is activated by certain proteins, the process of cell suicide (apoptosis) is triggered, which prevents the formation of uncontrolled, cancerous cell growth.
Scientists have long speculated that the loss of “death receptors” may be an early step in the formation of tumors.
“These data raised the intriguing possibility that CD95 could actually promote the growth of tumors,” lead author Marcus Peter, Ph.D., of Northwestern University, was quoted as saying. “The most apoptosis-sensitive cells in vitro are all cancer cells. But how are they so apoptosis-sensitive and yet don’t die?”
In studies using several human cancer cell lines, reducing the activator for CD95 caused tumors to stop growing; with some even dying. Upcoming clinical studies hope to test an inhibitor of the CD95 ligand in combination with chemotherapy.
Source: Nature; May 27th 2010
