According to research published in the esteemed journal Nature, a new class of drug may be able to help treat a minority of patients with aggressive pancreatic cancer.
The work, carried out by Cancer Research UK's Cambridge Research Institute and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, demonstrated that a gene known as USP9x switches off thanks to chemical tagging on the surface of DNA in human cancer cells and in mice cancer cells.
This faulty gene is believed to exist in as many as 15 percent of all pancreatic cancer patients, and that it could serve as an effective therapeutic target if a medication can be developed that can take away the chemical tagging responsible for switching the gene off.
The gene, USP9x, is not normally identified when discussing genes involved in cancer because it it not found when scientists look for DNA sequence changes.
Patients with pancreatic cancer are desperate for such a treatment. As things are, most patients don't survive twelve months following their diagnosis, and those that do make it that long, tend not to make it much longer.
Source: Nature
The information provided on CancerTreatment.net is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. This information is solely for informational purposes and does not constitute the practice of medicine. We encourage all visitors to see a licensed physician or nutritionist if they have any concerns regarding health issues related to diet, personal image and any other topics discussed on this site. Neither the owners or employees of CancerTreatment.net nor the author(s) of site content take responsibility for any possible consequences from any treatment, procedure, exercise, dietary modification, action or application of medication which results from reading this site. Always speak with your primary health care provider before engaging in any form of self treatment. Please see our Legal Statement for further information.
