Karanahan – "killing the cause"
Research by Novosibirsk scientists opens up opportunities to increase the effectiveness of anti-cancer therapy
Press service of the FITC "Institute of Cytology and Genetics"
Every year, millions of new cases of cancer are diagnosed in the world, and according to a WHO report (2014), this terrible figure will only increase over the next twenty years. And since traditional methods of treating oncological diseases have low efficiency, for most patients such a diagnosis sounds like a verdict. Therefore, scientists around the world continue to search for new cancer treatments, step by step approaching the solution of this problem.
For a number of years, the staff of the Laboratory of induced cellular Processes of the Institute of Cytology and Genetics SB RAS, headed by Doctor of Biological Sciences Sergey Bogachev, have been developing a technology for the treatment of oncological diseases, called "Karanahan" (killing the cause, Sanskrit).
Science has already concluded that the source of the tumor is a malignant stem cell. This is associated with the mechanism of metastasis formation, and sudden relapses of a seemingly cured disease: it is enough for one stem cell to survive, and it can start the process of formation of a new tumor at any time. By studying these cells, our employees have identified a unique property in them: the ability to capture extracellular DNA fragments.
Further studies have shown that if these fragments are introduced into the cell after a certain time interval after exposure to cytostatics (chemotherapy), they do not allow the cell to complete the recovery process and it dies.
This vulnerability of cancer stem cells in certain periods of its life cycle formed the basis of the technology, which the authors also call "3+ 1" (the first three doses of the drug injected into the tumor kill the bulk of the stem cancer cells, the fourth destroys the remaining ones).
First, the technology was tested for the treatment of ascites (pathological accumulation of fluid in the abdominal or pleural cavity, developing as a result of a tumor lesion) of Krebs-2 mouse cancer.
As a result, the cured mice not only lived one and a half to two years after the course of treatment, but were also able to bring full-fledged offspring. Then the researchers continued testing on several more types of oncological diseases: a solid form (solid tumor) of Krebs-2 mouse cancer, human glioblastoma cell cultures, etc.
In the course of experimental studies by a group led by Sergey Bogachev, two more important phenomena were identified. Firstly, the life cycle of cells of different types of tumors differs, so for each it is necessary to select its own schedule of drug administration. And secondly, the same cycle is influenced by the seasons: in summer and winter, the time intervals should also be different.
Obviously, the optimal solution would be to select an individual treatment schedule for each patient using the "Karanahan" technology, based on the study of his own tumor cells (what is now commonly called patient-oriented medicine). As a result, the technology significantly increases the effect of chemotherapy and thus allows to significantly reduce the doses of cytostatics administered to the patient. Recall that all drugs of this class have serious side effects, which in themselves greatly affect the condition of an already weakened body by the disease. Therefore, it can be expected that the use of chemotherapy in combination with the "Karanahan" technology will significantly increase the chances of a successful recovery and a full life of the patient after the course of treatment. At least, laboratory experiments conducted by scientists over a number of years say exactly that.
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