A substance that makes tumor cells to explode has been discovered by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Uppsala University.
In particular, they have discovered the substance called Vacquinol-1, which makes cells
from glioblastoma, the most aggressive type of brain tumour, literally explode.
This news is more than important in the medical society, given that today's established treatments for glioblastoma (surgery, radiation and chemotherapy) give to the patient life expectancy of only 15 months. Therefore, it is critical finding better treatment methods for malignant brain tumours.
In an initial stage, researchers exposed tumour cells to a wide range of molecules (applied to over 200 kinds
of molecules) till they discovered a single molecule which caused cancer cell's death.
It was found that the molecule gave the cancer cells an uncontrolled
vacuolization, a process in which the cell carries
substances from outside the cell into its interior. This carrying
process is made via the vacuoles, which can roughly be described
as blisters or bags consisting of cell membranes. When cancer cells are filled with a large amount of vacuoles, the cell membranes, the outer wall of the cell, collapses
and the cell simply explode and die.
In practice,researchers made mice that had human glioblastoma cells transplanted ingest the substance for five days. When mice were given Vacquinol-1,tumour's growth was reversed and survival was prolonged.
More specifically, the average life expectancy
for the group of mice that did not receive the substance was about 30 days, whereas in the case of those who received the substance -six out eight
mice-were still alive after 80 days.
The study was funded by the following associations: Swedish Research Council, Swedish Cancer Society, Swedish Foundation
for Strategic Research, Brain Foundation, Hållsten's Research Foundation, Torsten Söderberg Foundation and Wallenberg
Scholar.
Edited by Christiana Vellianiti
Source:Uppsala University
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