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A team of researchers has identified a single molecule, called TIC10, that kick-starts the body’s tumour-destroying systems — causing a chain reaction that can kill cancer dead.
In a series of experiments in mice the researchers, from Pennsylvania State University, found that TIC10 activities the gene for a protein called TRAIL — that’s short for tumour-necrosis-factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand — which causes cancerous cells to commit suicide. Wafik El-Deiry, one of the researchers explains:
“TRAIL is a part of our immune system: all of us with functional immune systems use this molecule to keep tumours from forming or spreading, so boosting this will not be as toxic as chemotherapy.”
A series of experiments provided evidence that TIC10 works on a wide range of tumours including brain, breast, lymphatic, colon, and lung cancer. While the TRAIL protein has been targeted in the past, it’s never been exploited as successfully — something the researchers put down to the small size of the molecule TIC10. There’s a hidden benefit, too, because TIC10 seems to cause healthy cells to join in the fight, too. Nature explains:
[I]t seems that TIC10 activates the TRAIL gene not only in cancerous cells, but also in healthy ones. This gives it enormous potential to create a ‘bystander effect’, in which apoptosis – or cell death – is induced in cancer cells immediately next to healthy ones. Healthy cells are also stimulated to increase the amount of TRAIL receptors on their cell surface. These receptors can then bind to the adjacent cancerous cells, triggering their demise. “It’s almost like TRAIL-plus – it does so much more,” says El-Deiry.
Of course, this initial testing has all been done in mice — and it remains to be seen if it will work as well as in other creatures. That’s why the next step is to test the molecule in humans. Keep those fingers crossed. [Science Translational Medicine via Nature]
Well, thats good news I guess.
Until the pharma companies get hold of it, and no more magic bullet cure.
Always going to be more profitable to offer long term mitigating treatment rather than a one-shot cure. I just hope my cynicism’s misplaced…
I hope that as they are a team of academics they will try and do what is best for most of the population. I don’t think something this big could be stopped by people trying to make a profit. Obviously this all depends on it being successful or partially succesfull in humans.
How do you imagine it would get to cancer sufferers if the pharma companies don’t “get hold of it”?
will the cancer fairies sprinkle it all over us?
The pharma companies will put up the billions required to do the proper trials to ensure this is a)safe and b)effective, before marketing it for use in humans. They put up the BILLIONS of dollars it will cost to set up trials all over the world, recruit patients, collect the data, analyse it and so on, with the hope it works as well in practice on humans as it appears to on mice. If it does, they will market it and it will be expensive, as all the thousands of people working for them need to be paid. And then in 10 years, it will come off patent and will be available cheaply to everyone because a pharma company had the money to do what no one else could afford.
Its not a perfect system, but its the only one we have.
“It’s not a perfect system, but it’s the only one we have”. If you accept the (Machiavellian, he knew his stuff) idea that those in power tend towards consolidating & increasing their power I’d state that your sentence so be more like “It’s self serving system & it’s the one we’re forced to adhere with”. I would imagine that common sense would dictate, that any system where profit margines could (and probably are) more important then human life, is a very dangerous system indeed. I would also state that it’s accepted wisdom that many areas (if not the vast majority) place profits over anything else. It’s been proven that tobacco companies hid the results that showed the dangers of their products. It’s been shown (though not absolutely proven according to some), that industry has caused massive ecological upheaval in our world. Nike had (maybe still run) sweat shops, logging companies destroy more forest then they’re legally allowed to, fishing companies over fish. Why should we assume pharmaceutical companies act in a more moral way. It does seem a bit naive to me.
Can’t you just play them Judas Priest backwards?
Or Alicia Keyes forwards.
Either one of those will cause more than the cancer cells to commit suicide.
im not sure i like the idea of messing with tnf response, an overactive tnf-alpha response is part of the cause of several autoimmune conditions like crons or ibs
IBS, or fatal cancer.
Tough choice, right?
have you seen how badly a serious auto immune condition can make youre life? ive seen plenty of cases where id take a relatively short cancer death any day of the week over long constant agony and unpleasantness
maybe its just me but i fear a longer life dealing with constant intense pain and discomfort far more than i fear a short intense path to death.
and it is a tough choice, tougher than you may think. i know this from personal experience in a way. i have a condition which means i may well die at any time technically, but theres as much chance it wont ever happen, i can have an operation to fix it but it carries a 40% chance of lifelong chronic pain. ive been battling with that decision for a few weeks now and still havent come to a conclusion
Mitigating chronic pain is becoming easier and easier by the day. Mitigating death, not so much.
I’d still personally take the risk.