Scientists Find Achilles' Heel of Cancer Cells

Histone Deacetylases (HDACs) remove acetyl groups, which serve as chemical tags, from Histone proteins. The presence or absence of these so-called chemical tags are what determines whether a piece of genetic material is viable for transcribing. Suppressing these enzymes would help fight cancer, but would also harm healthy cells because they also contain HDACs. However, recently, scientists discovered a certain specific enzyme, HDAC11, within the same family of HDAC enzymes that is found in very high levels in many cancer cells. During tests, researchers turned off  the production of this enzyme in both cancer cells and healthy cells. What resulted was the cancer cells dying (undergoing apoptosis) and the healthy cells remaining as they were with no noticeable changes.

This article greatly appeals to me because I know how scientists work every day to find ways to fight cancer. This article shows that, if we are to somehow develop a drug to inhibit the HDAC11 enzyme, then most cancers could be killed off easily as if they were mild infections. This is a huge step in cancer research, and a tremendous amount of lives could potentially be saved.

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