Molecule able to fight brain cancer found
Saturday, 23 April 2011, 06:32 IST   |    1 Comments
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Washington: Extending the hope to live longer than expected for patients suffering from brain cancer, a team of scientists has found a molecule that is able to induce death of brain cancer cells, stated the journal PLoS One released recently. According to the Institute of Biomedical Research of Bellvitge, Catalonia, in Spain, the molecule Nutlin-3 activates a protein called p53 that kills the cells and prevents the return of glioblastoma multiforme, the most common and most aggressive type of primary brain tumour among humans, Prensa Latina reported. Despite current treatments to stop it as well as innovation in neurosurgery, radiation therapy and clinical trials of therapeutic agents, most patients die within two years of diagnosis. Scientists, with this new discovery, hope to improve the treatment of glioblastoma and increase years of survival of patients. With therapy based on the Nutlin-3a, it may be possible that cancer cells do not have the ability to recover after radiation.
Source: IANS
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