For a while, cancer research for cure, has focused on the various genetic mutations behind a number of cancers.
Now, a new study published in the journal, Cancer Cell, has taken a different approach. This new approach targets the pathways that the cells use the curb their never-ending appetite for energy.
In explaining the attention that this approach has receive, Thomas Burris, senior author of this study, said, “They need tools to grow fast and that means they need to have all of the parts for new cells and they need new energy.”
These two pathways, known as the Warburg Effect and lipogenesis, ramps up the use of glucose apart from cells making their fats for a quick growth.
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This study paper also explains how a small molecule that targets these pathways has stopped cancer cell growth. In particular, the researchers used in both cultured tumor cells and human tumor cells grown in animals.
This small molecule, called SR9243, began as an anti-cholesterol drug candidate and which targets fat synthesis in cells so that they can produce their own fat. If that’s not enough, there are certain cancers that are more sensitive to this molecule than others.
In fact, the team found that this molecule worked with glioblastoma – a brain cancer type that is difficult to treat. Yet the limitation is that the drug cannot cross the blood barrier, so the next challenge is to help the drug become more effective in doing this.
Apart from this, it has been found that using SR9243 along with chemotherapy drug increases the effectiveness of the latter.