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According to a mouse study presented at the 2018 NCRI Cancer Conference, early treatment of pre-cancerous stem cells could be a key element in the prevention of bowel cancer in those born with HIV / AIDS. very high risk of developing the disease.
Research has suggested that stem cells play a key role in cancer development, but they have proven very difficult to treat with cancer drugs in established tumors
New research indicates that these stem cells could be sensitive to existing anticancer drugs, but only if they are treated very early, suggesting that it might be possible to prevent bowel cancer in people who have inherited from an very high risk of developing the disease.
The study was presented by Michael Hodder, Cancer Researcher. Research UK Beatson Institute, Glasgow, United Kingdom. He said: "Stem cells play an important role in our body because they are able to divide and multiply into different types of cells, and they are also found in tumors where this ability to multiply makes it more difficult to stop
"I wanted to take a closer look at cancer stem cells to determine if I could discover a vulnerability that could be targeted to more effectively treat cancer."
In collaboration with the professor Owen Sansom, director of Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute, Hodder, studied the role of stem cells in the intestines of mice that mimicked a human inherited disorder called familial adenomatous polyposis or FAP
People with FAP are over 95% of risk of developing bowel cancer, with their average age at diagnosis is 40. They wear a nomalie in a gene called APC (adenomatous polyposis coli).
The mice also carried a defective equivalent of the APC gene and, if they were not treated, they would develop tumors in their guts. The researchers used early existing cancer treatments to determine if any of them could stop the development of tumors. They discovered that a drug called cisplatin could prevent cancer in mice. This drug is known to interfere with cell growth and division.
The researchers also found that precancerous stem cells were more sensitive to cisplatin than normal stem cells in the intestines of mice. This suggests that it is possible to treat cancer stem cells, but only if done at an early stage, before the appearance of a tumor, while it is probably too late to attack cancer stem cells with drugs such as cisplatin once the tumor is established. 19659002] Hodder explained: "For people with FAP who inherit an extremely high risk of bowel cancer, it is clearly advantageous to be able to prevent tumors." use of aspirin to prevent cancer of the intestine, suggesting that it is possible to prevent.
"This research is about mice and not about humans, but it presents the possibility that stem cell targeting may be a way to prevent tumors in people at very high risk of bowel cancer.
"Cisplatin is a potent anti-cancer drug that can cause serious side effects, so we need to determine if it can work on precancerous stem cells at very low doses or if we can find other drugs that have the same effect, but with fewer side effects. "
Hodder and his colleagues continue to test a range of drugs to see if less harmful alternatives function in the same way as cisplatin, only at that time that this approach could be tried in humans.
Professor Simon Gollins is a clinical oncology consultant based at The The North Wales Cancer Treatment Center, Glan Clwyd, UK, and Chair of the NCRI Colorectal Study Group , did not participate in the research. "Studying defects in the genes and cells that precede cancer helps us understand how cancer develops and therefore how to treat or even prevent disease."
"We know that stem cells are found in tumors and that they can be the most difficult cancer cells to eradicate. This study on hereditary bowel cancer is interesting because it suggests that treatment of cancer stem cells could be treating them much earlier in the process, perhaps even before the cancer is present. "
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