Leukaemia cure lies in cancer pill?
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KOLKATA: An indigenous
drug therapy developed by a team of city researchers holds out hope for
acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) patients. Studies have shown that the
medicine blocks the pathway of a gene that resists drugs and is
responsible for a relapse which is common in AML. Of all the various
kinds of leukemia, AML is considered to be the deadliest since it recurs
in 70% of cases.
City scientists Aditi Karmakar, Sudeshna Gangopadhyay and GS Bhattacharya have found out that rapamycin - a drug commonly used in the treatment of liver cancer - inhibits mTOR, the pathway for a multi-drug resistant gene that causes a relapse in AML patients. The researchers administered the drug on 25 AML-affected blood and bone marrow samples. These samples were cultured and observed for 96 hours. The results were pretty astonishing. In 16 of the 25 samples, the mTOR cells were destroyed.
"Just 2% of the cells remained while the rest had just vanished. This is indeed encouraging for it was done with a locally available drug that doesn't cost much. Thousands of lives can be saved if a relapse can be prevented," said Sudeshna Gangopadhyay. The research team will present a paper on the study at the American Society of Clinical Oncology in July.
"AML stunts the normal development of cells. So, the purpose of any therapy is to help the cells grow, instead of killing them which usually happens in cancer," explained Subrata Banerjee, scientist at the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics. It is the most common form of acute leukemia in adults, and its incidence increases with age. While 5% of the country's total 25 lakh cancer patients suffer from leukemia, the number of AML patients is believed to be 50,000.
If a drug can help to neutralize mTOR, it would indeed be a path-breaking discovery, said Banerjee. "mTOR is a signaling pathway that triggers the drug-resistant gene. Once it's active, no effort to make the stunted cells grow will work. Even if they grow, the process will eventually stop and AML will recur," said Banerjee.
The research team is now planning to carry out a trial on patients. "We have sufficient laboratory data and results. A trial on patients is the next step and we are contemplating it," said Gangopadhyay. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has been approached to fund the research that has so far been supported by a central government undertaking.
City scientists Aditi Karmakar, Sudeshna Gangopadhyay and GS Bhattacharya have found out that rapamycin - a drug commonly used in the treatment of liver cancer - inhibits mTOR, the pathway for a multi-drug resistant gene that causes a relapse in AML patients. The researchers administered the drug on 25 AML-affected blood and bone marrow samples. These samples were cultured and observed for 96 hours. The results were pretty astonishing. In 16 of the 25 samples, the mTOR cells were destroyed.
"Just 2% of the cells remained while the rest had just vanished. This is indeed encouraging for it was done with a locally available drug that doesn't cost much. Thousands of lives can be saved if a relapse can be prevented," said Sudeshna Gangopadhyay. The research team will present a paper on the study at the American Society of Clinical Oncology in July.
"AML stunts the normal development of cells. So, the purpose of any therapy is to help the cells grow, instead of killing them which usually happens in cancer," explained Subrata Banerjee, scientist at the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics. It is the most common form of acute leukemia in adults, and its incidence increases with age. While 5% of the country's total 25 lakh cancer patients suffer from leukemia, the number of AML patients is believed to be 50,000.
If a drug can help to neutralize mTOR, it would indeed be a path-breaking discovery, said Banerjee. "mTOR is a signaling pathway that triggers the drug-resistant gene. Once it's active, no effort to make the stunted cells grow will work. Even if they grow, the process will eventually stop and AML will recur," said Banerjee.
The research team is now planning to carry out a trial on patients. "We have sufficient laboratory data and results. A trial on patients is the next step and we are contemplating it," said Gangopadhyay. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has been approached to fund the research that has so far been supported by a central government undertaking.
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