Houston. Researchers at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center may have discovered a compound that may eventually be part of a therapy for treating lymphocytic leukemia, according to a report in the September issue of Nature.

Researchers were using the estrogen derivative 2-methoxyoestradiol (2-ME) to boost levels of a protein called p53 to improve how cells respond to anti-cancer drugs, when the compound began to show potent activity against human leukemia cells, researchers said.

Lead author Peng Huang, MD, Ph.D., said 2-ME interfered with the enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD), which controls the levels of free radicals inside cells.

"Cancer cells produce far more superoxide than normal cells, making them more dependent on SOD for survival," he said. "This makes the cancer cells more susceptible to the inhibition by 2-ME."

This also leaves the door open for potential side effects, Huang said. "SOD normally helps cells eliminate superoxide, which is a damaging free radical. So if 2-ME blocks too much of the enzyme, not only cancer cells would be killed but healthy cells could be damaged, too," he said.

If 2-ME proves safe for people, researchers believe it could be combined with localized irradiation to produce even more free radicals inside cancerous cells.

The next step in the research will be to test the compound in an animal model of this type of leukemia, Huang said. "If those tests go well, tests on people could begin within five years," he said.

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