Novel drug may help tackle treatment-resistant cancers

A new class of drug that has the potential to help cancer patients, especially those suffering from breast cancer and who no longer respond to existing therapies has been discovered.

Breast cancer patients frequently become resistant to existing treatments, leading to the disease becoming fatal.

Early lab-based tests of a drug named ICEC0942 were successful in targeting resistant breast cancers and indicated minimal side effects.

“Treatment-resistant tumours represent a significant threat for patients, as once a cancer stops responding to treatments there is increasingly little clinicians can do,” said a Professor.

“Drugs such as these could help to shift the balance back in favour of the patients, potentially providing a new option to patients for who existing treatments no longer work,” the Prof. added.

The findings, published in the journal, noted that the drug targets an enzyme called CDK7 — involved in directing cells through their life-cycle, which consists of growth, DNA replication and cell division.

CDK7 is also involved in the process of transcription — a vital step in gene expression — the creation of proteins to carry out cell functions.

Particular cancers, such as treatment-resistant breast cancers, have a unique dependence on transcription, meaning targeting CDK7 may be particularly effective.

By inhibiting transcription, ICEC0942 shuts down the ability of the cancer to spread.

In addition, cancers such as acute myeloid leukaemia and small-cell lung cancer are particularly transcription-dependent.

Therefore, ICEC0942 drug may also work well for these too, especially where they have become resistant to other treatments, the researchers suggested.

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High-cholesterol diet causes tumours to form 100 times faster

A news study now shows that high-cholesterol diets send cancer cells into overdrive and cause tumours to grow 100 times faster.

Scientists of the study have shown for the first time that the mechanism which means fatty cholesterol significantly increases the risk of colon cancers.

The research which was carried out by researchers, who made the discovery are other types of cancer too show similar frenzy under the influence of cholesterol.

Speaking about it, a Dr. said that they were excited to find that cholesterol affects growth of stem cells in intestines which in turn accelerates rate of tumour growth formation by more than 100 per cent.

He went on to add, “While the connection between dietary cholesterol and colon cancer is well established, no one has previously explained the mechanism behind it.”

The study,  investigated mice who were given a high cholesterol diet and others genetically modified to produce more cholesterol in their natural state.

Scientists observed that in both cases, extra cholesterol was a powerful trigger for the replication of intestinal stem cells which are responsible for the growth of the gut.

However, the rapid growth also meant that the growth of tumour cells accelerated rapidly as well.
Scientists are still debating whether cholesterol-busting drugs like statins, which are widely 
prescribed to people at risk of heart attacks or strokes, can lower risk of gut cancers.

According to the study, the report concludes: “We showed here that high cholesterol diet feeding increased cellular cholesterol levels in [gut] crypts and that cellular cholesterol content regulates the proliferation of ISCs.

Therefore, it says, it is logical that this previously unseen mechanism is what is driving up tumour growth in humans on a high cholesterol diet.

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Heart can regenerate itself long after birth: Scienists

Heart muscle cells can retain the ability to replicate long after birth, researchers have claimed, contradicting the previous theory that these cells stop duplicating just after birth. 

The study, carried out on mice, also showed that in response to a surge in thyroid hormone, heart muscle cells undergo an intense 24 hour "burst" of division in preadolescence. 

During this burst, the number of heart muscle cells increase by more than 40 per cent, or half a million cells, and compared with later in development, the ability of the heart to recover after injury was enhanced. 

This response is essential for the heart to meet the increased circulatory needs of the body during a period of rapid growth in preadolescence, in which the heart increases almost four-fold in size. 

In a study published in Cell, the scientists have overturned more than a century of scientific theory, which proposed that heart muscle cells in mammals stopped replicating just after birth, limiting the organ's ability to repair itself after injury. 

The findings suggest that thyroid hormone therapy could stimulate the process, and may even enhance the heart's ability to regenerate in patients with heart disease. 

Bob Graham, Executive Director at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and Des Renford of Medicine at UNSW, with Ahsan Husain at Emory University, led the study. 

"Heart muscle cells retain the ability to divide and make new cells for a long time after birth, at least until preadolescence, equivalent to eight to ten years of age in humans," Graham said. 

"The implications of our findings could be huge, as it may give us a significant window of opportunity in which to repair the hearts of babies born with heart defects, or even to reactivate heart muscle cells damaged after a heart attack in adults," he said. 

"The scientists also believed the brevity of the burst may explain why it has previously gone undetected, taking place over just 24 hours in mice, equating to around five weeks in humans," he said.
"I think this research has given us some really important and significant insights, including that the heart is not as static as we previously thought," Graham added.

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South African geranium root may kill HIV-1

Extracts of the South African geranium plant can inactivate the most widespread type of HIV and prevent the deadly virus from invading human cells, according to a new study.

Scientists from the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen, Germany have found that these extracts represent a potential new class of anti-HIV-1 agents for the treatment of AIDS.

Researchers demonstrate that root extracts of the medicinal plant Pelargonium sidoides (PS) contain compounds that attack HIV-1 particles and prevent virus replication.

A team spearheaded by Dr Markus Helfer and Professor Ruth Brack-Werner performed a detailed investigation of the effects of PS extracts on HIV-1 infection of cultured cells.

They demonstrated that PS extracts protect blood and immune cells from infection by HIV-1, the most widespread type of HIV.

PS extracts block attachment of virus particles to host cells and thus effectively prevent the virus from invading cells.

Chemical analyses revealed that the antiviral effect of the PS extracts is mediated by polyphenols. Polyphenol mixtures isolated from PS extracts retain high anti-HIV-1 activity but are even less toxic for cells than the crude extract.

Safety of PS-extracts has been established in several clinical trials, researchers said.

"PS-extracts are a very promising lead for the development of the first scientifically validated phytomedicine against HIV-1. PS extracts attack HIV-1 with a mode-of-action that is different from all anti-HIV-1 drugs in clinical use," research group leader Brack-Werner said.

"Therefore a PS-based phytomedicine may be a valuable supplement for established anti-HIV therapies. Furthermore, PS extracts are attractive candidates for increasing anti-HIV-1 therapy options in resource-limited settings, since they are easy to produce and do not require refrigeration.

"The results of our study and the proven safety of PS extracts encourages their testing in HIV-1 infected individuals as next step," said Brack-Werner.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), more than 35 million people in the world are infected with HIV, the majority with HIV-1, researchers said.

Without treatment, HIV destroys the immune system and causes the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), which is a life-threatening disease. HIV/AIDS is one of the 10 leading causes of death worldwide, they said.

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