Cancer Cure News 2017: Scientists Found a Treatment That Allow 'Complete Tumor Regression'
Scientists may have discovered a more effective way to get rid of cancer cells. This method is called caspase-independent cell death (CICD).
In experimental models, the scientists over at University of Glasgow managed to completely kill the tumors using the CICD method.
The current anti-cancer therapies being used such as chemotherapy, radiation and immunotherapy make use of a process called apoptosis, wherein proteins called caspases are activated, which leads to the death of the cells.
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However, apoptosis does not always completely stamp out the cancer cells, and the ones that evade it often causes the relapse of the disease. It also even brings about side effects that make it worse.
As Cancer Research UK senior science information officer Dr. Justine Alford pointed out via Irish Times, apoptosis sometimes does not finish the job.
In CICD, the cancer cells that die alert the immune system by releasing inflammatory proteins. This then allows it to wipe out the rest of the tumor cells that dodged the first removal.
In explaining their research published in Nature Cell Biology, Dr. Stephen Tait explained:
Our research found that triggering CICD, but not apoptosis, often led to complete tumor regression. Especially under conditions of partial therapeutic response, as our experiments mimic, our data suggests that triggering tumour-specific CICD, rather than apoptosis, may be a more effective way to treat cancer.
Tait and his team tested CICD on lab-grown colorectal cancer cells:
In essence, this mechanism has the potential to dramatically improve the effectiveness of anti-cancer therapy and reduce unwanted toxicity. Taking into consideration our findings, we propose that engaging CICD as a means of anti-cancer therapy warrants further investigation.
Alford believes that CICD has serious potential and could actually work. He hopes that more experts cultivate the idea and find a way to make use of it on humans should it prove to be effective.
