London - Scientists have found a code for turning off cancer.
In exciting experiments, they made cancerous breast and bladder cells benign again, and they believe it could work with many other types of cancer.
The US researchers said their work revealed “an unexpected new biology that provides the code, the software for turning off cancer”. Most importantly, it uncovers “a new strategy for cancer therapy”.
Cancer kills more than 150 000 Britons each year and ruins the lives of many more.
The work is still at an early stage but brings with it hope that cancer will take fewer lives in the future.
Unlike conventional drugs, which work by killing the cancer, the US work aims to disarm it and render it harmless.
The breakthrough focuses on a protein called PLEKHA7 that helps healthy cells clump together. PLEKHA7 acts as a “brake” on the cells, stopping them from multiplying over and over and forming tumours.
The research, from the Mayo Clinic in Florida, showed the protein to be missing or faulty in a range of cancers. When this happens, key genetic instructions to the cells are scrambled and they turn cancerous.
A research team led by Panos Anastasiadis was able to reset the instructions – turning off the cancer. Experiments in a dish showed that human cells from highly dangerous bladder cancers can be made normal again.
Dr Anastasiadis, whose father died of bladder cancer, said: “Initial experiments in some aggressive types of cancer are indeed very promising.
“Maybe years down the road this can make difference for someone with bladder cancer. That would be nice.”
Dr Anastasiadis thinks the approach, detailed in the journal Nature Cell Biology, would apply to most cancers, other than brain and blood cancers.
This includes lung cancer which is Britain’s biggest cancer killer and to blame for more than one in five cancer deaths.
However, much more research is needed before the technique is tried out on humans. And even if the therapy did help patients, it is likely they would still need chemotherapy.
British experts described the research as “beautiful” and “absolutely fascinating”, but they cautioned that it was still a long way from helping patients.
Cancer Research UK’s Henry Scowcroft said: “This important study solves a long-standing biological mystery, but we mustn’t get ahead of ourselves. There’s a long way to go before we know whether these findings, in cells grown in a laboratory, will help treat people with cancer.”
The breakthrough comes as Danish research revealed that a daily dose of common over-the-counter painkillers such as aspirin or ibuprofen dramatically reduced the risk of bowel cancer.
The study showed that some NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) almost halved cases of a disease that strikes down about 40 000 Britons a year.
Scientists reviewed data from northern Denmark – with a population of 1.8 million – and found that taking 75 to 150mg of aspirin continuously for five years or longer slashed the risk of tumours by 27 percent.
Other NSAIDs were associated with a 30 to 45 percent reduction in the number of cases, according to the findings published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.
Dr Soren Friis, of the Danish Cancer Society Research Centre in Copenhagen, said: “The biological plausibility of our findings is high. Animal models and in vitro data have consistently shown protective effects of aspirin and non-aspirin NSAIDs against bowel cancer.”
A British study in 2011 found daily aspirin can cut the risk of developing cancer by as much as 60 percent in people with a family history of the disease.
Daily Mail