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By Alexandra Thompson Principal Health Reporter for Mailonline
14:41 27-Sep-2019, update 15:35 27-Sep-2019
- Scientists have exposed colorectal cancer cells to β-galactoside binding protein
- Proteins have "anti-tumor properties" and make cancer more "visible"
- The immune system would therefore recognize cancer and fight it if it came back
Research suggests that a molecule naturally present in the immune system could kill cancer cells.
Scientists from King's College London exposed colorectal tumors to the β-galactoside binding protein (βGBP) in the laboratory.
They discovered that the protein had "anti-tumor properties", which triggered the "suicide" of the malignant cells.
It is also believed that βGBP makes the tumor more visible to the immune system, which then triggers an anti-cancer response to prevent its return.
Scientists believe that their study "could open a new therapeutic opportunity" that would constitute a "significant step forward in cancer management".
According to Cancer Research UK statistics, one in two people born after 1960 in the UK will develop cancer at some point in their lives.
The treatments have come a long way in recent decades, scientists wrote in the British Journal of Cancer.
Chemotherapy, a cancer treatment of choice, kills malignant cells by preventing them from reproducing. This prevents tumors from developing and spreading throughout the body.
However, chemotherapy can cause unpleasant side effects, such as vomiting, fatigue and hair loss. It does not work for all patients either.
"In contrast, the anti-tumor property of βGBP is selective and not harmful to normal cells," said lead professor Livio Mallucci, author.
"ΒGBP is effective against the most aggressive colorectal cancer cells and against a wide range of other cancer cells that do not respond to current treatments either.
"This research presents experimental evidence of a strategy in which targeting of cancer cells and stimulation of immunity combine to elicit immediate and long-term responses to aggressive cancer."
"The clinical translation of βGBP could open up a new therapeutic opportunity that safely combines the direct destruction of cancer cells and the stimulation of the immune system against recurrence.
& # 39;[This would be] a significant step forward in cancer management. & # 39;
ΒGBP is a form of immunotherapy that works with the patient's immune system to help fight the disease.
Scientists have exposed colorectal cancer cells to the "lowest therapeutically effective dose of βGBP inducing apoptosis," or "cell suicide."
Previously, these cells did not respond to existing methods of "therapeutic attack".
Within 48 hours of βGBP treatment, the "cellular stress" and "evidence" of destruction were "fully manifested".
The same results occurred when scientists tested βGBP in mice with the disease. The treatment also triggered no security alarms.
"As a natural component of the anti-cancer immune network, unlike the pharmacological inducers associated with associated toxicity and uncertainty, beta-GBP has no adverse properties," Mallucci told MailOnline.
In addition to contributing to the destruction of cancer, this approach could also provide long-term protection for patients by introducing specific immune surveillance for cancer, "the scientists wrote.
They hope that βGBP will be studied in trials in the near future.
"It's a physiological molecule and, as such, is already ideally suited for clinical trials," said Professor Mallucci.
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