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Erroneous Laboratory Operation May Lead To a Cancer Drug

by Jyothsna on Feb 5 2007 11:17 AM

An error in the laboratory may pave way to the discovery of a new drug for cancer. This was disclosed by Katherine Schaefer of Rochester University Medical Center. This may be a foundation study for treatments associated with colon, skin, liver and oesophagal cancers.

Schaefer was studying to locate therapeutic measures for swelling in Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis which results in intense pain and diarrhoea. Cancer cells were used as controls for this study and a compound by the name PPAR-gamma modulator was being tested. Schaefer realized that a small error in her laboratory calculation resulted in the death of the cancer cells.

She also found that PPAR-gamma had killed all the epithelial lining of the tumor cells. In the mice this compound killed colon tumor with no side effects.

According to Schaefer, mode of action of PPAR-gamma is different from the current drugs. It attacks a section of cell cytoskeleton called tubulin. While tubulin is involved in building the cell arrangement, PPAR-gamma breaks it down. This indirectly indicates that the gamma compound could actually counter the effect of tumor cells to chemotherapy.

Schaefer also intends to pursue this study further and conduct more trials with mice on the same subject.

Source-Medindia
JYT


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