The Cure For Most Cancers Coming Soon

A ONE-size-fits-all drug described as the “holy grail” of cancer cures will be available within a few years, British scientists revealed yesterday.

 The breakthrough came when researchers discovered the rogue gene that allows cancer to spread through the body.

 It is the spreading – or “metastasis” – of cancer in the late stages of the disease that is responsible for killing victims. And it cannot currently be treated or prevented.

 Having discovered the gene, the researchers are already experimenting with a molecule they believe will stop cancer growth in its tracks.

 Dr Andrew Chantry, a biological scientist at the University of East Anglia, said the discovery of the gene – known as WWP2 – leads to hopes of a “one-size-fits-all” drug for a range of the most common cancers including those of the brain, breast, colon and skin.

 The breakthrough comes as a global league table shows that Britain has the 11th-highest breast cancer rate in the world. Experts claim this is due to obesity and high alcohol consumption.

 Dr Chantry said that patients diagnosed with tumours could be given the new drug to stop the disease spreading as they received conventional treatments.

 Dr Chantry said: “We are very excited about the discovery of this gene and are already on the way to developing a new drug to block it.

 “We expect this would be an orally delivered pill, administered as the patient is receiving treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

 “If all goes well we believe cancer patients could be being treated by drugs that prevent the spread of their tumours in five to 10 years.”

 In the UK, more than one in three people will develop some form of cancer during their lifetime. One in four will die of it.

 Dr Chantry said we all have the WWP2 gene but that when it is faulty it attacks a natural inhibitor in the body that normally prevents tumours from spreading.

 This allows cancer cells to break off and travel around the body, creating secondary tumours notoriously hard to treat. Breast cancers, for example, are known to spread to lymph nodes, the bones and the lungs.

 Dr Chantry said: “This is what eventually kills cancer patients. If a tumour stayed in the same place it would just be a simple case of removing it with surgery.

 “The important part of this finding is that a new drug could keep the tumour walled in and stop it from spreading while treatments were taking place.

 “This could have a dramatic effect on the number of people dying of cancer. We are now looking at the shape of the gene and trying to find a molecule that could block it. This would then be developed into a drug.” The research was funded by the Association of International Cancer Research, a UK-based cancer charity.

 Dr Mark Matfield, scientific co-ordinator of the charity, said: “This is a perfect example of the way basic research into cancer can develop new ways to treat it.”

 The global league table, compiled by the World Cancer Research Fund charity from World Health Organisation estimates, recently painted a dismal picture of cancer rates in the UK, revealing it has the 11th highest rate of breast cancer in the world.

 Eighty-nine women out of every 100,000 develop breast cancer each year in Britain, while 260 British women per 100,000 develop some form of cancer every year.

 Previous research has claimed that 14,000 women a year would not develop the disease if they ate less, drank less alcohol and exercised more from an early age.

 

 

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 25th, 2011 and is filed under General News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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