Recycling to Treat Cancer
Reported July 09, 2008
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Recycling protects the planet, but now researchers say recycling on a cellular level might also protect you from cancer.
Stanford University scientists identified a molecule that may revolutionize cancer treatment, especially for the most common type of kidney cancer, renal cell carcinoma (RCC). RCCs are almost always caused by a mutation of the von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) tumor suppressor gene. They have a poor prognosis and dont respond well to standard chemotherapies, making finding new therapies necessary.
Researchers discovered the compound STF-62247, which targets RCCs lacking VHL while leaving normal VHL cells alone. The result could be highly therapeutic.
Most side effects people associate with chemotherapy, such as nausea and hair loss, are due to toxic effects of drugs on normal tissues, senior author Amato J. Giaccia, Ph.D., a professor of radiation oncology at Stanford University in Stanford, Calif., was quoted as saying. Exploiting a feature of cancer cells should spare the normal tissue and decrease these awful side effects, he explained.
The compound STF-62247 activates autophagy in VHL-deficient cells, a recycling process used by cells to conserve resources during times of stress. Increasing evidence implicates a role for autophagy in cancer, but it is not well understood how cellular and environmental cues drive autophagic cells down survival or death pathways, Dr. Giaccia said.
SOURCE: Cancer Cell, 2008;14:90-102
