A new chemotherapy drug has been found to “annihilate” solid tumours, leaving healthy cells intact, in early research.
The “cancer-killing pill” attacks a protein which encourages tumours to grow by aiding DNA replication and the repair of cancerous cells.
That protein, called proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), was once considered too challenging to target.
The drug, called AOH1996, was named after a child – Anna Olivia Healy, born in 1996 – who died when she was only nine after being diagnosed with a rare childhood cancer neuroblastoma.
The breakthrough was made by researchers at the City of Hope in California, one of the largest cancer research and treatment organisations in the US.
Professor Linda Malkas and her team, who spent two decades developing the drug, said targeted chemotherapy appears to “annihilate” all solid tumours in preclinical research.
She said: “PCNA is like a major airline terminal hub containing multiple plane gates.
“Data suggests PCNA is uniquely altered in cancer cells, and this fact allowed us to design a drug that targeted only the form of PCNA in cancer cells.
“Our cancer-killing pill is like a snowstorm that closes a key airline hub, shutting down all flights in and out only in planes carrying cancer cells.”
It was tested in more than 70 cancer cell lines and found to selectively kill cancer cells by disrupting the normal cell reproductive cycle, according to the research centre.
It works by preventing cells with damaged DNA from dividing and replicating, causing the death of cancer cells, but it does not affect healthy stem cells.
The pill has been shown to be effective in treating cells derived from breast, prostate, brain, ovarian, cervical, skin and lung cancers.
The professor called the results “promising” but made clear that research has found AOH1996 can suppress tumour growth in cell and animal models, and the first phase of a clinical trial in humans is under way.
The first patient received the potentially cancer-stopping pill in October with the phase one clinical trial still continuing and expected to last for at least two years.
Patients are still being recruited for the trial.
Researchers are also still examining mechanisms that make the drug work in animal studies.
Lead author of the study, Long Gu, said: “No one has ever targeted PCNA as a therapeutic because it was viewed as 'undruggable', but clearly City of Hope was able to develop an investigational medicine for a challenging protein target.”
“We discovered that PCNA is one of the potential causes of increased nucleic acid replication errors in cancer cells.
“Now that we know the problem area and can inhibit it, we will dig deeper to understand the process to develop more personalised, targeted cancer medicines.”
The study – titled “Small Molecule Targeting of Transcription-Replication Conflict for Selective Chemotherapy” – was published in the Cell Chemical Biology journal.
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Flavour: Similar to goat’s milk, although less pungent. Vaguely sweet with a subtle, salty aftertaste.
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Use it: In your morning coffee, to add flavour to homemade ice cream and milk-heavy desserts, smoothies, spiced camel-milk hot chocolate.
Goes well with: chocolate and caramel, saffron, cardamom and cloves. Also works well with honey and dates.
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The major Hashd factions linked to Iran:
Badr Organisation: Seen as the most militarily capable faction in the Hashd. Iraqi Shiite exiles opposed to Saddam Hussein set up the group in Tehran in the early 1980s as the Badr Corps under the supervision of the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The militia exalts Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei but intermittently cooperated with the US military.
Saraya Al Salam (Peace Brigade): Comprised of former members of the officially defunct Mahdi Army, a militia that was commanded by Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al Sadr and fought US and Iraqi government and other forces between 2004 and 2008. As part of a political overhaul aimed as casting Mr Al Sadr as a more nationalist and less sectarian figure, the cleric formed Saraya Al Salam in 2014. The group’s relations with Iran has been volatile.
Kataeb Hezbollah: The group, which is fighting on behalf of the Bashar Al Assad government in Syria, traces its origins to attacks on US forces in Iraq in 2004 and adopts a tough stance against Washington, calling the United States “the enemy of humanity”.
Asaeb Ahl Al Haq: An offshoot of the Mahdi Army active in Syria. Asaeb Ahl Al Haq’s leader Qais al Khazali was a student of Mr Al Moqtada’s late father Mohammed Sadeq Al Sadr, a prominent Shiite cleric who was killed during Saddam Hussein’s rule.
Harakat Hezbollah Al Nujaba: Formed in 2013 to fight alongside Mr Al Assad’s loyalists in Syria before joining the Hashd. The group is seen as among the most ideological and sectarian-driven Hashd militias in Syria and is the major recruiter of foreign fighters to Syria.
Saraya Al Khorasani: The ICRG formed Saraya Al Khorasani in the mid-1990s and the group is seen as the most ideologically attached to Iran among Tehran’s satellites in Iraq.
(Source: The Wilson Centre, the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation)
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A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
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Company name: Big Farm Brothers
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