Molecule Created To Block Cancer Growth Cells

With cancer being one of the most deadly diseases present today, researchers are trying to find treatments other than chemotherapy and radiation to stop the potent disease. Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have been conducting tests in hopes of finding a way for cancer genes to ignore instructional cues and to be able to “turn off” the cancer cell’s growth genes.

The researchers primarily focused on the cancer known as NUT midline carcinoma (NMC). This is a rare type of cancer that is seen in the chest, head, and neck in which the tumor growth is very fast. The tissue this cancer arises in is unknown. This fast tumor growth is a reason this particular type of cancer is so fatal; some patients responded to chemotherapy, but eventually the spread of the disease was overpowering.

The disease is caused by two genes from different chromosomes combining to form a protein known as BRD4-NUT. Interestingly enough, drugs including Valium and Xanax are used against bromodomain proteins, including BRD4. The researchers used this piece of evidence to form molecules that would stop the “reader” protein on BRD4-NUT. They found a molecule that did, naming it JQ1.

The researchers did tests on mice by placing the NMC cancer cells into the mice and giving only some of the mice the JQ1. Amazingly, all mice that received the JQ1 survived and the mice that did not died.

This article was relevant to me because I am very interested in going to medical school and more specifically I have always been interested in cancer research. The studies done by the researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute shows that “personalized medicine” could be possible in the future, and even though this molecule was formed for NMC and is still being tweaked, possible molecules could be made for other types of cancer as well.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/202481.php