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Scientists have found a way to trick cancer cells into committing suicide

eurekalert.org — The novel technique potentially offers an effective method of providing personalized anti-cancer therapy. Most living cells contain a protein called procaspase-3, which, when activated, changes into the executioner enzyme caspase-3 and initiates programmed cell death, called apoptosis...

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  • diggywiggit, on 10/12/2007, -49/+1I think I'm having a problem. Everytime I see titles like this I think of snakes.
  • ojk007, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18This sounds like a really ingenious idea. I hope it works.
    • merm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6One thing that's not clear to me is whether or not this also causes healthy cells to die. It seems to me that if you bypass the cell's auto-destruct mechanism (which is broken in cancer cells) that you may affect healthy cells too? If this doesn't affect healthy cells then it's a very interesting breakthrough indeed.
    • LacY, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7This is really interesting, but the article makes it sound like every tumor has a broken caspase pathway. There are *lots* of ways to get around the pro-apoptotic pathway (there are lots convergent and divergent of pro- and anti-apoptotic pathways, too), and this is relatively specific to one. (They do allude to this in the article when they mention that this treatment would be administered pased on procaspase-3 levels in the patient). So while it could be a really huge find for certain cancers, it's not going to be a panacea for every tumor out there. And as others have said, there's no way to target this treatment--there's no reason it wouldn't kill normal cells too. That said, it's still a major finding.
    • Xtant, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@LacY

      Good point but most apoptotic pathways lead to the cleavage of proCasp3 into Casp3 and subsequent formation of the apoptosome (to resort to jargon). That is what is novel about this therapeutic strategy; it bypasses all of the different mechanisms (as you mentioned) that can lead to apoptosis, and starts the process at the point where they all converge. The unfortunate consequence of bypassing what is wrong with the cancer cells is that the therapy will kill normal cells just as well or better. This is the problem with most forms of chemotherapy. killing is easy; killing selectively is another matter all together.
  • incubusnb, on 10/12/2007, -6/+8so... does that mean its cured and I can go chain-smoke a pack of smokes now?
  • hackwrench, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13Yes, but the article says nothing about preventing healthy cells from killing themselves as well.
  • Sukino, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12There is at least one cure for cancer every week on digg.
    If only one works, then it's good.
    • ErrandboyOfDoom, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Curing cancer is the new messiah.
  • kanavulator, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1I'm pretty sure this is obsolete; I saw an article on a couple of scientists winning a Noble Prize for doing research on this. Except it was a couple of years ago.
  • Moeface, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2Finally, trust Digg to make something complicated sound so simple.
  • kamilX, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1Metal Gear Solid.
    It's called Foxdie...
  • LordSkywalker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14Now the scientists need to find a way to get this effect on MySpace users.
    • incubusnb, on 10/12/2007, -2/+19they already have, you just know it as Emo
  • cuposmuck, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/dn9847-reawakened-executioner-makes-cancer-selfdestruct.html
    a better version of it...
    • ChrisPikula, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2New Scientist is full of crappy articles, often with loads of incorrect assumtions and *facts*. I'd rather cite the wikipedia in a thesis than refrence that anywhere.
  • ChileanGoD, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12They inject an enzyme that tells the cancerous cell.."hey dude, your wife is cheating on you, you just got fired, your mom and dad are porn stars and Bush was reelected".

    • incubusnb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9that could have the side-effect of causing the cell to go on a murderous rampage though... the patient could be dead in an hour
  • NiGHTSChao, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3I really wish the UN would look into these many different ways
    Everytime I go on the internet I see something new on how to fight AIDS or STDs or (like this) cancer

    why cant UN look into it!?
    • andyd273, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Whats the UN gonna do? they are just a bunch of politicians, most of whom cant find their own rectums.
      Actually, please keep them away from this, since I'd hate to have a real cure get caught up in committee for 20 years while they vote on the wording for the press release and millions die.
      The FDA is enough of a necessary evil, don't add to it.
  • nessup, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Take them to Hot Topic?
  • senseigmg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1For those questioning the death of healthy cells: Earlier stages of cancer have few mutations in genes that allow scientists to replace just a few missing components so that the cell can go through apoptosis. The pathway in a normal cell contains a lot of cross-talk; signals from one receptor/pathway affecting the signal from a different receptor/pathway. This acts as a protection mechanism, which is broken in a cancer cell. Look up words like, MAPK pathway and tyrosine & non-tyrosine receptor kinases and there might be a picture somewhere showing various pathways and their interactions.
  • jsniff, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0Hell yeah, i live in champaign, where they did this.
  • Shisan, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Does this mean the cancer will go to hell since it commited sucide?

    :D
  • o0joshua0o, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3
    How do they get the cancer cells so depressed?
  • FishPoisonCon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2technically it's not "tricking", is it? more like turning a switch back on, the way i understood it..
  • r00tus3r, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3JEEZE, ALL THESE FRIKKING BREAK THROUGHS !!! WHERE'S THE BLOODY CURE ALREADY!!!???
  • wusupdoe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Emo cancer cells? Do cell suicide rates double if I listen to 'Hawthorne Heights'?
  • Xtant, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Killing the cancer cells is really not the issue. We've been doing this for years, its called chemotherapy. The real issue is delivery; finding some way to get the chemotherapeutic agent(s) to the cancer cells without a substantial amount of collateral damage. Generally, anything that will kill cancerous cells will also kill non-cancerous cells.
  • dmckenzie04, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You know marijuana contains a chemical which causes apoptosis in cancer cells while leaving healthy cells alone. It's called thc, the primary intoxicating chemical.
    "...cannabinoids may play a role in inhibiting cell growth of colectoral cancer, skin carcinoma, breast cancer, and prostate cancer, among other conditions. When investigators compared the efficacy of natural cannabinoids to that of a synthetic agonist, THC proved far more beneficial – selectively decreasing the proliferation of malignant cells and inducing apoptosis more rapidly than its synthetic alternative while simultaneously leaving healthy cells unscathed." - http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6814 (includes references)
    It appears thc may answer the question about leaving healthy cells alone. We need to find out how it is able to kill the cancer cell while leaving healthy cells alone.
    • Xtant, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1keep dreamin' spicoli

      medical marijuana is the "intelligent design" of alternative medicine.
  • dmckenzie04, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0yea, except it can actually be supported by science and fact. Intelligent design can't be proven on disproven. THC kills cancer cells while leaving helathy cells alone: Fact. Moreover, I'm not arguing for medical marijuana, but what I am saying is that nature is showing us how to solve our problem of killing cancer cells and not healthy cells. We need to figure out how THC is able to do what it does in relation to killing cancer cells.
  • luxbot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Amazing story I hope it works!
  • Vinhdicated, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Shoot, I need to brush up on my medical lingo.
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