A team of researchers from the Mayo Clinic believe they’ve discovered a mechanism that can rein in cancer’s uninhibited growth by retraining these wayward cells to die like they’re supposed to.

Cancer cells maybe be benign or malignant, but they always have the property of uncontrolled division and growth. Ordinary cells stop dividing at a certain point when they hit the hall, but cancerous cells keep going on and on. This turns into a tumour. Biological processors called microRNAs control senescence of cells and produce just enough levels of PLEKHA7 protein to inhibit division in the cell. In cancer cells, however, the microRNAs seem to be fail in sending enough levels of PLEKHA7 protein. The solution at hand, is to inject the cancer cells with microRNAs which would restore the normal levels of PLEKHA7 protein to not let them over-divide.

“This important study solves a long-standing biological mystery, but we mustn’t get ahead of ourselves,” Henry Scowcroft, Cancer Research UK’s senior science information manager, told The Telegraph. “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. But it’s a significant step forward in understanding how certain cells in our body know when to grow, and when to stop. Understanding these key concepts is crucial to help continue the encouraging progress against cancer we’ve seen in recent years.”

The lab results have proved to be effective against quite aggressive forms of cancer. Hopefully, this method would be viable for using as a treatment for cancer.

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Author:Technology Blog