Cancer Treatment – New Breakthrough
Can a drug kill cancer cells and give relief to cancer patients? A team of scientists think so. The “wonder drug” which they claim to have achieved a major breakthrough that can kill off cancer and could wipe out some of the most deadly forms of cancer. The drug named as ‘KG5’ works in such a way that the cancer cells kills itself, which they termed it as “committing suicide” and further claimed that the drug stops the cells multiplying or growing into tumor and then completely shutting down.
The international team of scientists felt that the radical drug will bring fresh hope to patients with aggressive and deadly tumors and the drug KG5 could be made available in as little as five years in pill form. Lead scientist Prof. David Cheresh says that the drug “blocks the function of proliferation” and the malignant cells commit suicide when they can’t multiply. Proved effective in tests against pancreatic, breast and kidney cancers, it could well have a positive effect on a broad range of other tumours.
The cancer treatment drug KG5 has been found to work in a different way compared to traditional therapies which works by altering the structure of a cancer growth protein, an enzyme known as RAF. The protein has been long studied, but its role in cell division – critical to cell proliferation and tumour growth – came as a surprise. The cancer treatments existing currently and are used to treat cancer patients normally block RAF’s activity, but KG5 changes the entire shape of the protein and neutralizes it without leading to unwanted side-effects. As to clinical trials, KG5 has so far, only been tested in animals and tissue samples taken from patients.
Further, the team has developed variants of KG5 supposed to be 100 times more powerful than the original cancer treatment drug. And the team hopes that these powerful compounds will enter clinical trials on humans at Moores Cancer Center in San Diego within 18 months. Cancer treatment for various types may, in the next few years, be through pills and the cancer patients may find this alternative to be the best.
