Scientific breakthrough turns cancerous cells benign

Scientists at the Mayo Clinic in Florida have discovered a code for ‘switching off’ cancerous breast and bladder cells and making them benign again.

The researchers say that this discovery reveals ‘an unexpected new biology that provides the code, the software for turning off cancer’, and that it uncovers ‘a new strategy for cancer therapy’.

Despite significant advances in medicine, cancer is still taking the lives of over 150,000 patients each year in the United Kingdom, and is affecting the lives of many more.

The new therapy works by disarming the cells and rendering them harmless, instead of killing the cancerous cells, as with conventional cancer drugs.

Dr Anastasiadis, who is leading the research team, said “Initial experiments in some aggressive types of cancer are indeed very promising”, and went on to say that he believes that the approach could work with most cancers, with the exception of brain and blood cancers.

This would include lung cancer, which is currently the UK’s largest cancer killer, accounting for more than one in five cancer deaths.

The work is still at an early stage and further research is required before the therapy is trialled on people for the first time, but British experts have described the research as ‘absolutely fascinating’.

Henry Scowcroft of Cancer Research UK, said “This important study solves a long-standing biological mystery, but we mustn’t get ahead of ourselves.

“There’s a long way to go before we know whether these findings, in cells grown in a laboratory, will help treat people with cancer.”

He went on to say that such work is “crucial” if “the encouraging progress against cancer we’ve seen in recent years” is to continue.

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Posted by Tony May, Partner/head of Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), Medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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