A false target for cancer cells
Cancer cells have been reprogrammed
Alexey Timoshenko, GZT.RUScientists reprogrammed cancer cells, increasing their sensitivity to chemotherapy and slowing growth.
This discovery can significantly help in the fight against breast cancer.
Researchers from the Samuel Waxman International Cancer Research Foundation published an article in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Interference with Sin3 function induces epigenetic reprogramming and differentiation in breast cancer cells), which describes the so-called epigenetic reprogramming of breast tumor cells. And although it was not possible to get normal tumor cells from the tumor cells, the results achieved by scientists are very significant – reprogrammed cells divide at a slower rate and are also more susceptible to drugs.
Samuel Waxman, whose name is borne by an international research organization, is himself one of the authors of a recently published article, and before that he held the post of professor at Mount Sinai Clinic, one of the most famous medical centers in the United States. A specialist in oncology, he founded his foundation in 1980.
Given the growing interest in innovation centers and their financing in Russia in recent months, it would be useful to give a reference to the financial condition of the Waxman Foundation. It follows from the freely available materials that 83% of all the organization's funds are spent on cancer research (from purchasing equipment and reagents to salaries and paying bills). And the income of Waxman himself, as a manager, is about $ 130 thousand a year, which by American standards is generally quite a common amount for such a position.
This picture shows the reporting
about the financial activities of the Samuel Waxman Foundation
with GZT notes.RU in Russian.
Source: Charity Navigator
About cells
Since it was an experimental technique that has not yet been tested even on laboratory animals, the scientists did not work with patients, but with the MDA-MB-231 cell culture. Cell culture is cells that were once isolated from a real tumor, placed in a nutrient solution and started growing outside the body, just like plants are grown.
How exactly do they work with cell cultures?
Photo biology-blog.com with comments GZT.RU
With cells growing "in a test tube" (quoted, since a slightly different dish is usually used, namely, flat containers, so–called Petri dishes), you can do many times more than even with an experimental mouse. At any convenient time, scientists have the opportunity to give an additional dose of drugs, take a culture sample for examination under a microscope, moreover, all cells can be placed under a microscope for real–time observation.
About epigenetics
What is the epigenetic reprogramming that scientists have used? The DNA of any human cell contains about 20 thousand genes, and each gene encodes either a protein or RNA molecules. But only a small part of all this diversity is actually used, breast cells will never synthesize proteins necessary for building muscle fibers or neuronal receptors.
What determines which genes are active and which are not? Special markers that can block the work of genes. And if the genes themselves are called genetic factors, then epigenetic ones mean precisely the "switches" of genes that can radically change the life of a cell without rearranging its genome.
An example of genetic changes is mutations caused by tobacco smoke that disrupt the structure of DNA, and due to this, the cell becomes cancerous. An example of epigenetic changes is a healthy embryo cell, the so–called pluripotent stem cell, acquires specialization and becomes a muscle tissue cell, neuron, liver cell or any other. Reprogramming stem cells has already allowed, for example, to get new teeth instead of lost ones.
About false goals
How was it possible to redirect cancer cells of the MDA-MB-231 line to the path of correction? If we leave behind the scenes a complex sequence of biochemical reactions associated with the switching of gene activity, we can say that a key role was played by a protein molecule called SID decoy by scientists.
The word decoy means a false goal in English, such a name is quite justified. A relatively small protein molecule bound to another protein that played a key role in switching the activity of genes, and due to this prevented it from starting the work of those genes that provided the cancer cell with rapid growth, coupled with drug resistance.
What does an inflatable tank have in common with a protein molecule,
used to remake cancer cells?
Both are false goals,
designed to replace real objects.
It is still difficult to say how effective the new method will be in the transition from cell culture to the clinic, but the authors of the study emphasize that they managed to cope with the most dangerous type of breast cancer.
The cancer cells that the researchers used belong to a group that is virtually invulnerable to the three most common drugs. Hormonal therapy does not help women affected by this type of tumors, and surgery, radiation and rather toxic chemotherapy drugs have to be used for treatment.