Researchers discover new method to reduce chemotherapy
doses for patients
Chemotherapy, which is a saviour for many cancer
patients is a painful treatment to undergo following which many patients quit
it midways. But researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have
developed a method that delivers chemotherapy drugs directly to malignant cells
and bypasses healthy ones. With this discovery, doctors aim to reduce chemo
doses for patients, thereby reducing the unpleasant side-effects associated
with the treatment.
“Most anti-cancer treatments are not sufficiently
specific, meaning they attack healthy cells together with the malignant ones
they’re trying to get rid of,” explained Professor Alexander Binshtok, head of
Plain Plasticity Research Group at the University.
“This leads to the many serious side-effects
associated with chemotherapy. Eliminating cancerous cells while leaving healthy
ones alone is an important step towards reducing patients’ suffering,” the
professor added. The findings were published in the journal Frontiers
in Pharmacology.
The study focused on the selective expression of the
TRPV2 protein by cancer cells. When activated, TRPV2 protein opens a canal
inside cell membranes. Researchers studied liver cancer cells and were able to
successfully insert a low dose of doxorubicin, a chemotherapeutic agent,
through the canal and directly into cancer cells. Not only did the new method
target cancer cells without harming healthy ones. In the future, the precision
of this delivery method may allow doctors to prescribe lower chemo doses and to
relieve patients from some of the harsher effects of chemo.
“It’s too early to make concrete predictions but we
are hopeful this discovery will lead the way towards a new, more targeted
delivery method for chemotherapy treatment, one that will drastically reduce
patients’ pain,” Binshtok concluded.
02.12.2019
Winners are not people never
fail, but people never quit
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