The cancer cells is known as the dangerous enemy which will block your most powerful, efficient human system and then kills them. Basing on this mechanism, a study carried out by an Indian origin researcher along with other colleagues has found a breakthrough.
This method of starving cancer cells could provide new options for patients, particularly those resistant to standard therapies such as tamoxifen, according to Georgia Health Sciences University researchers.
“It basically starves the cancer cell,” Mr. Ganapathy, Chairman of GHSU’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, corresponding author of the study, said.
The compound they used is alpha-methyl-DL-tryptophan, already used in humans for short periods when they get a PET scan in certain areas of the brain. When the researchers treated estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer cells with it or put it in the drinking water of the mice with the cells, rapid growth stopped and the cancer cells died.
The study has been published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Source: thehindu.com