Researchers at the University of Missouri might have found a way to fight cancer by interrupting its communication.
Cancer cells in the right image were treated and in the left image are shown to have been killed. (courtesy; University of Missouri News Bureau)
Those researchers were studying a molecule used by bacteria to communicate. That molecule would allow bacteria to tell one another to do things like multiply, to flee from a body’s immune system, or to stop spreading.
Assistant Research Professor Senthil Kumar says the team then made a discovery “by accident.”
“We’ve found that this molecule can be effectively used against cancer cells,” says Kumar, by introducing the same molecule to cancer cells. It can be used to tell cancer cells to stop spreading, or even to die.
“The cancer cells migrate to form metastasis in the distant organs … we are able to stop that migration when we use this compound. We also found that the genes responsible for this migration can be influenced by this compound.”
Much more research must be done before the technique will be tried on humans, but so far it’s shown promising results against one of the most treatment resistant cancers there is; pancreatic
Professor Senthil Kumar
In the study published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE, Kumar and co-author Jeffrey Bryan, an associate professor in the MU College of Veterinary Medicine, treated pancreatic cancer cells and were successful in ceasing their multiplication. The cells failed to migrate and began to die.
“Because this treatment shows promise in such an aggressive cancer like pancreatic cancer, we believe it could be used in other types of cancer cells and our lab is in the process of testing this treatment in other types of cancer,” says Kumar.
The next step, he says, is to find a more efficient way to introduce the molecules to the cancer cells.
“At this time, we are only able to treat cancer cells with this molecule in a laboratory setting.”