Science is fascinating
I hope the news that a new, cheap drug has been found to treat cancer is true and that it works in practise.
I find the mechanism for the drug fascinating. It reminds me of studying in detail the chemistry of how blood clots when we have a cut. It is incredible!
It seems that cancer cells grow too fast and they can’t get enough oxygen through the normal way of obtaining it (mitochondria). Cancer cells seem to be able to turn off the mitochondria and use glycolysis instead to feed themselves enough oxygen.
Mitochondria apparently also have the job of regulating abnormal cells by telling them to self-destruct when they go bad (apoptosis). But if the mithochondria are turned off, the cancer cells have no safety switch either.
This old drug used in a new way, called dichloroacetate (DCA), apparently reawakens the mitochondria. The mitchondria then notice the abnormal behaviour and ‘order’ the cell to die. Tumors supposedly then wither.
I am just amazed at how the body works and is inter-connected. And how a small thing makes such a big difference. I hope that clinical trials bear this out and that this truly is a breakthrough.
Interestingly, the fact that cancer cells use glycolysis also helps to explain how secondary cancers can form:
“Glycolysis generates lactic acid, which can break down the collagen matrix holding cells together. This means abnormal cells can be released and float to other parts of the body, where they seed new tumours.”
This whets my appetite to learn more in depth how the body works.
For more information from those doing the research, please visit the University of Alberta’s site.