DRUG AGAINST CANCER

Researchers at the Center for Cellular Therapy, University of São Paulo (USP), Ribeirão Preto (SP - Brazil) identified one of the genes responsible for the activation of cells responsible for metastasis - the process in which cancer spreads through the body via the bloodstream. Hotair known as the gene triggers a mechanism which transforms the

UNIVERSIDADE DE SAO PAULO (USP) - BRAZIL

mesenchymal cancer cells - with the ability to exit the site of origin and lodge in other organs. With the discovery, recently published in scientific journals such as the American Stem Cells, researchers believe it is possible to inhibit the future, the action of genes and maintain localized cancer, which would facilitate the healing of disease.

According to the professor of genetics and a researcher Wilson Araújo Silva Júnior, were three years of research to identify which genes might be involved with the development of tumors . The relation to the hotair cancer was already known , but its function expansion was evident in the study . "We have important information , which is to show that the hotair is one of the genes that are involved in the activation of metastasis . Already it is known that metastasis is a stage in the evolution of the tumor makes it difficult to control the cancer. Already knew that the hotair is a gene that is highly active in metastatic tissues . what we did not know was that he is one of the genes that was triggering metastasis , " he explains.

Smith Jr. states that the hotair , as a gene that produces protein has the ability to regulate the expression of other genes. Thus, it is known that other genes regulated by it are also responsible for the activation of the process of metastasis. " The hotair is an important component to activate metastasis , it is an RNA gene . What it does is regulate the activation of other genes , which indeed are involved in metastasis," he says.

The next step of the study , according to the researcher , is identify which genes controlled by hotair who are also involved in the activation of metastasis . The goal is that in the future you can find a way to inhibit the action of these genes , so keep cancer is located in only one area .

" This discovery is not a cure for cancer , but it is an element that , with others, can serve as a tool for pharmaceutical companies to develop drugs to control the tumor. Controlling the action of this gene, is automatically controls the action of genes that it regulates . Here you have, in theory , control the spread of the tumor. This is already a breakthrough. By controlling metastasis , you hold the localized tumor , "he concludes .

SOURCE: GLOBO.COM

Curry na mira da cura do câncer

Uma pesquisa realizada na Irlanda sugere que um componente encontrado no açafrão da Índia, presente no tempero curry, pode matar células cancerosas. O componente químico curcumina já era visto como um extrato com aplicações medicinais e já estava sendo testado para tratamento de artrite e até demência. Testes de laboratório realizados pelo Centro de Pesquisa do Câncer de Cork, na Irlanda, mostraram que a curcumina pode matar células de câncer de esôfago. A cientista Sharon McKenna e sua equipe descobriram que a curcumina começou a matar as células cancerosas dentro de 24 horas. "Cientistas já sabiam há tempos que compostos naturais têm potencial para tratar células defeituosas que se transformaram em células cancerosas e suspeitamos que a curcumina poderia ter valor terapêutico", disse a cientista. As células também começaram a se digerir, depois que a curcumina desencadeou os sinais de morte celular. Especialistas em câncer afirmam que a descoberta - publicada na revista especializada British Journal of Cancer - pode ajudar médicos a elaborar novos tratamentos para a doença. "Abre a possibilidade para que compostos químicos naturais encontrados no açafrão da Índia possam ser desenvolvidos para se transformar em novos medicamentos." "A incidência de câncer do esôfago aumentou em mais de 50% desde os anos 70 e isto estaria ligado ao aumento da taxa de obesidade, consumo de álcool e doença do refluxo.

Vamos torcer pelo desenvolvimento de novos fármacos, a partir da curcumina!!