Two Prostate Cancer
Breakthroughs May Lead to Better Treatments – Mushroom Extract Aids
Chemotherapy and Scientists are Learning Why Cancer Does Not Die
August 1st 2006
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Cancer Cells |
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Two important findings may help doctors treat cancer. The first comes
from Boston where scientists say that extracts from a mushroom can boost
the power of a leading chemotherapy drug used for prostate cancer. The
mushrooms are the same ones used by East Asians for medicine for
centuries.
Dr. Chang-Yan Chen said “This species of mushroom has been reported to
have some degree of activity in cancer patients. Our aim was to study
what effect, if any, extracts of Phellinus linteus have, but we also
need to know precisely how it produces these effects.” Chen is the lead
researcher and a doctor at the Boston University School of Medicine in
Massachusetts.
When the researchers added the mushroom to the drug doxorubicin in the
laboratory, it was able to kill cancer cells better. The combination
was just as effective as larger doses of the drug alone.
The second finding involves the reason why prostate cancer cells are
able to resist hormone treatments. Dr. George Kulik said "We hope this
will lead to new treatments or ways to monitor treatment to make sure
it's having its intended effect." Kulik is the assistant professor of
cancer biology and senior researcher at Wake Forest University School of
Medicine.
Some prostate cancer cells become resistant to treatments that lowers
levels of testosterone. “The normal response of prostate cells when
male hormones are blocked is cell death,” said Kulik. “The cancer cells
find a way to resist the treatment and we wanted to discover the
mechanism.”
The researchers were interested in three pathways in cell signaling. The
goal of the researchers was to learn how these pathways are involved in
the cancer cells resisting death. They found that all three signaling
pathways work by inactivating a protein known as BAD that causes cell
death.
Cancer cells are able to avoid cell death. Apparently all three
pathways are capable of inactivating BAD, which means that prostate
cancer cells have three redundant survival mechanisms.
The next step is to develop drugs that prevent BAD from being
inhibited. “If our finding is confirmed in animals and in human tumors,
there are important implications for therapy,” according to Kulik.
Dan Wilson
Best Syndication
Books on Cancer
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