Study: Painkillers may kill cancer cells too
June 21st, 2010 - 9:01 pm ICT by Aishwarya Bhatt
New York, Jun 21 (THAINDIAN NEWS) According to the latest research on cancer, painkillers might not just help to kill the sensation of pain but the cancer cells too. The researchers established a link between the anti-inflammatory drug Sulindac and ‘the start of cell death in cancer cells’ which is also known as ‘apoptosis’.
The astonishing and path breaking study was published in the journal ‘Cancer Cell’. The study clearly illustrated how the drug Sulindac attaches itself to the RXRa, which is a protein, which is responsible for carrying the message to the nucleus, and also turns the genes on or off.
One of the senior authors of the study – Xiao-kun Zhang said that the nuclear receptors are very good targets for the development of the drugs. He also added that even though their process is not very clear, yet around 13% of the current drugs target them only.
In a statement, senior author Xiao-kun Zhang said that, “Nuclear receptors act as excellent targets for drug development. Although, the mechanism of action is not always unambiguous, 13% of the existing drugs target nuclear receptors.”
There is no doubt that such path breaking research would definitely open many avenues in oncology, which would then specifically target painkillers.
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Tags: avenues, cancer cell, cancer cells, cell death, drugs, genes, inflammatory drug, journal cancer, mechanism of action, no doubt, nuclear receptors, nucleus, oncology, painkillers, protein, sensation, sulindac, target, targets