Israeli researchers eradicate cancer cells

Researchers from the Tel Aviv University of Israel have recently developed a new technique that enables cancer cells to self-destruct.

The procedure is started by changing particular proteins inside the cancerous cell. Once it is done, the division that energizes the disease comes to an end which further results in the death of the cancerous cells instead of scattering in the body and also, leaving the healthy cells unaffected.

The researchers from the university believe that this mechanism can prove to be helpful for more destructive form of cancer like the pancreatic cancer. Science Alert reported that the researchers observed the consequence in cancer cell cultures and human cancer cells that were transplanted into mice. Now, they further have to look if this process will prove to be successful in human body or not.

Malka Cohen-Armon, the lead researcher says, “The discovery of an exclusive mechanism that kills cancer cells without impairing healthy cells, and the fact that this mechanism works on a variety of rapidly proliferating human cancer cells, is very exciting.”

The primary focus of the scientists was on the scientific proteins that affect the creation and stability of spindle, a fragment of cell which is accountable for establishing a genetic material during the mitosis stage of cell division.

The researchers saw that the compound in cancer cells that are the results of phenanthridine chemical, destroy the spindle which thus, stops the cell from dividing and the chromosomes from splitting.

When the mitosis gets out of control, it results in the growth of the harmful cancerous cell. But now, with this technique of new protein, the division can be put to an end and can cause the cells to kill themselves.

Cohen-Armon explained, “According to the mechanism we discovered, the faster cancer cells proliferate, the faster and more efficiently they will be eradicated.”

The technique was tested by the teams on different kinds of tumor in human cancer cell cultures like the colon, lung, breast, brain, blood, pancreas and ovary.

The researchers further plan to study and discover on how the protein technique battles with triple negative breast cancer and the pancreatic cancer, as Science Daily reports. They also move towards inventing an anti-cancer drug.

“Identifying the mechanism and showing its relevance in treating developed tumors opens new avenues for the eradication of rapidly developing aggressive cancers without damaging healthy tissues,” Cohen-Armon concluded.