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Scientists can "trick" cancer cells into commiting suicide...

edited December 2006 in General
Scientists have found a way to trick cancer cells into committing suicide. The new synthetic compound, which removes a molecular safety catch that activates a natural executioner in the body's cells, could lead to better treatments of cancers including those affecting the lung, skin, breast, kidney and colon.

The body has several defences against cells growing out of control and into tumours - one is to cause defective or dangerous cells to commit suicide. This natural process of cell death, called apoptosis, involves a protein called procaspase-3. When activated, procaspase-3 changes into an enzyme called caspase-3, which begins the cell death. In cancers, this mechanism is often faulty and cells can grow unchecked. Many types of cancer are resistant not only to the body's own signals for cell death but also to the chemotherapy drugs that try to mimic it.
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  • edited December 2006
    yes i've heard of this a while back.. apparently the theory goes that our cells die and new ones are reproduced after so many days (can't rmb the number.. help from a bio major?).. and so all they have to do is induce the cell death process to kill off cancer cells.. and the body will then reproduce new ones to replace those.. i just haven't heard about the last part about cancer cells being resistant to dying.. as far as i know their experiments yield some positive results..=\
  • edited December 2006
    wow, it might be able to cure cancer... not...

    If u have to kill the cancer cell, that means u will also kill the normal healthy cell. Program 'death' applies to all cells, regardless what kind of cells are they - just my thoughts. Not sure if its correct
  • edited December 2006
    No, it would work.

    It uses the same protein the body would to tell defective or dangerous cells to commit suicide. It doesn't just kill all cells.
  • edited December 2006
    malakaiii's got it.. apparently the protein of cancerous cells are different from normal human cells.. so it would only kill off the defective ones while leaving the normal cells alone.. the doctor already got a nobel prize for this discovery i believe..
  • edited December 2006
    good to hear w'ere making some progress in this field finally
  • edited December 2006
    Wow, this is great news.

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