Lung cancer was cured with a "spoiled" oncogene
Cancer gene therapy: it worked on mice!
Complete and irreversible disappearance of tumors was observed in 37% of cases after primary therapy, and after a repeat course – in 89% of cases within a year.
The target of the attack is the Myc gene. It encodes a protein responsible for activating a number of other genes and, in general, figuratively speaking, for bringing DNA into a "working state". There are many such proteins, but Myc is responsible for the work of 15% of all genes. The incorrect operation of this gene causes cells to divide uncontrollably, not responding to internal signals of stopping and self-destruction. The protein that encodes Myc is found in abundance in a variety of types of cancers.
Targeted shutdown of mutant versions of Myc has been possible before. It has been shown that this leads to the stopping of division and the destruction of the cancer cell. The whole difficulty is to stop all cancer cells at once at a signal, without disrupting the work of healthy tissues. The work of Myc is very important for the body, and it is completely impossible to "jam" it.
Scientists have changed the structure of the Myc gene, producing its mutant version, which was named Omomyc. This understudy blocks the operation of the "wrong" Myc in cells by a signal from the outside. Omomyc was implanted into tumor cells, and then it was turned on by adding special preparations to drinking water.
After a year, during which mice (200 artificially induced tumors for each) received 8 cycles of therapy (4 weeks of activation of the inhibitor gene, then 4 weeks of "rest"), almost all experimental animals were completely free of cancer.
The experimental stage in mice has been passed, according to the authors of the study. Now the point is to make the method available from a pharmacological point of view and to test its effectiveness and safety for humans.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru14.03.2013