Researchers in South Korea revealed that they were able to revert cancerous cells back to a healthier stage by activating this molecular-level “switch.”
The discovery has allowed scientists to tap into the critical moment before normal cells irreversibly transform into diseased cells.
By doing so, they halt the progression of cancer and then reverse it.
Scientists around the world have been hailing the discovery as a major breakthrough in the fight against cancer.
Dr. Tiffany Troso-Sandoval, a retired oncologist formerly at New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center who was not involved in the study, said in a statement:
“This finding provides a new approach for cancer treatment by rewiring cancer cells rather than eliminating them.”
“To better understand this hybrid state, you can think of water boiling at exactly 212°F,” Troso-Sandoval explains.
“There’s a brief moment when water is neither fully liquid nor fully steam.”
This state is similar to how cancer development includes a short window where cells are both healthy and cancerous, she explained.
Traditional cancer treatments focus on removing cancer cells through surgery or destroying them with radiation or chemotherapy.
However, the new research appears to have uncovered a third approach that could allow cancer patients to regain their healthy cells.
Dr. Troso-Sandoval said this new approach could lead to therapies that are less toxic than radiation and chemotherapy.
These traditional therapies damage all cells in the body — not just the cancerous ones.
This causes debilitating side effects and can ultimately make patients develop more diseases, including new cancers.
What’s more, the new findings could point to a way to prevent tumor formation in high-risk patients, Dr. Troso-Sandoval added.
Cancers could be prevented in people with a family history of the disease or who are regularly exposed to carcinogens like cigarette smoke.
Troso-Sandoval said the study also provides “a deeper understanding of cancer biology that could lead to more personalized medicine.”
The team of researchers published their findings in the journal Advanced Science.
Co-author of the new research, Kwang-Hyun Cho, a professor of biology at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, said:
“This study has revealed in detail, at the genetic network level, what changes occur within cells behind the process of cancer development, which has been considered a mystery until now.
“This is the first study to reveal that an important clue that can revert the fate of [tumor development] is hidden at this very moment of change,” he added.
The development of cancer is not an immediate transformation.
It happens gradually as changes to healthy cells’ DNA build up over time.
These changes alter how cells function.
Once enough detrimental changes occur, healthy cells turn into abnormally functioning cancer cells.
The researchers identified a key window during this gradual transition.
During this window, the cells enter a short-lived “critical transition state” where they contain both healthy and cancerous traits.
Using a molecular identification system, the team was able to target the mechanisms controlling this transition and identify molecular pathways that pushed cells back to a normal state.
Cho and his colleagues tested this new treatment mechanism through molecular cell experiments.
They used lab-grown mini-tumors, or organoids, made from colon cancer cells.
They identified an enzyme that was hindering the breakdown of certain cancer-related proteins, allowing them to fuel tumor growth.
By blocking the enzyme, the organoids stopped growing and reverted to a healthy state of normal functioning.
The concept of cell differentiation — or the process of cells changing states — is not new, according to Dr. Troso-Sandoval.
However, the mechanism that Cho and his team discovered and its application in cancer treatment is a major breakthrough.
Follow the link for the Article... Scientists Announce Major Breakthrough After Discovering 'Switch' That Reverses Cancer
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