According to British scientists as told to Dailymail, a breast cancer ‘wonder drug’ that could be a weapon to fight tumors have been discovered. The scientists of Newcastle University have recently found a way of making a family of breast cancer pills to effectively fight against other cancers. Another good news about this drug, its side effects such as nausea and tiredness should be minimal.
The drug contains PARP inhibitors, which affect the way tumors cells repair themselves. It is actually contained in a family of cancer drugs as they target hereditary forms of breast cancer, as well as ovarian prostate cancers and pancreatic tumors with the same rogue gene.
The drugs become the particular interest to doctors because they kill the tumor without harming healthy cells. In other words, the patients who consume the drug will suffer fewer side effects compared with the one they would get from the treatments of chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
As reported in the Nature Medicine journal, when PARP inhibitor was given to animals as part of the experiment, it successfully shrunk their cancer. The scientists even stated that they were able to show that the approach of PARP inhibitor targeted cancer cells only. But they still need to develop an effective drug that can block a molecule called Cdk1, a molecule which allows the repair of cancer cell’s DNA. Once the drug is developed, it could be widely applicable to cure cancer, and possibly universally.
Dr Lesley Walker from Cancer Research UK, an institution which funded the research of this ‘wonder drug’ said although it is very early to expect for the drug to be accomplished, it is very exciting to know that there is defect in the cancer cells which make the cells vulnerable to PARP inhibitors as found in the case of lung cancer. The doctor even optimistically stated that the fact gives pretty much hope to the creation of a powerful new tool in treating cancer.