Cancer cure may be available within five years, say researchers
March 9th, 2009 - 11:20 am ICT by ANI London, March 9 (ANI): Researchers in London have discovered a way to stop cancer cells from spreading, which may prevent about 90 per cent patients.
Scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research, a constituent college of the University of London, say that rather than concentrating on stopping the formation on tumours, they focussed on singling out the enzyme that allows cancer to spread throughout the body.
The researchers say that their groundbreaking study led to the discovery that an enzyme called LOX is crucial in promoting the spread of the disease throughout a patients body.
Lead researcher Dr. Janine Erler said called her teams discovery the crucial missing piece in the jigsaw we have been searching for.
She claimed that her team was the first to have identified any such key enzyme.
This discovery provides real hope that we can -develop a drug to fight it. If we can interrupt the bodys ability to prepare new locations for the cancer to spread to, we can prevent metastasis, the Daily Express quoted her as saying.
While studying breast cancer in mice, Janines team have found that in the absence of the LOX enzyme, full name lysyl oxidase, new environments in the body would be too hostile for the cancer to grow.
The research group, which includes scientists from Stanford University in America, are confident that it will apply to humans and other cancer types.
Janine and her colleagues now plant to use their findings to develop drugs that can block this enzyme.
She hopes that this discovery will lead to a potential new treatment for cancer within five years. (ANI)
- Scientists identify enzyme behind cancer spread - Mar 08, 2009
- Enzyme that causes breast tumours identified - Nov 20, 2009
- Breakthrough can reduce heart failure in cancer patients - Feb 10, 2011
- Key culprit in breast cancer metastasis identified - Feb 17, 2011
- Molecules that help propel cancer metastasis identified - Apr 08, 2011
- Scientists find enzyme family that plays crucial role in regulating cell motility - Mar 19, 2011
- Fatty acids can fight cancer spread - Apr 11, 2012
- Key component in the spread of lung cancer discovered - Mar 15, 2011
- Scientists uncover how metastatic cancer cells plan their ''relocation'' - Jan 06, 2009
- New discovery may help explain how cancer cells spread - Jun 01, 2010
- New 'Nanobody' agents help identify patients who will benefit from breast cancer drugs - Apr 12, 2011
- Exciting breakthrough can cripple cancers - Dec 15, 2008
- Stress speeds up breast cancer progression in mice - Sep 17, 2010
- Blocking rogue gene could halt the spread of most cancers - Jan 25, 2011
- Pomegranate juice could be key to new cancer therapies - Dec 13, 2010
Tags: breast cancer, cancer cells, cancer cure, cancer research, cancer types, colleagues, constituent college, daily express, erler, groundbreaking study, janine, jigsaw, london march, mice, missing piece, research group, researcher, stanford university, tumours, university of london