Medical Dialogues
  • Dermatology
Login Register
This site is intended for healthcare professionals only
Login Register
  • MD Brand Connect
  • Vaccine Hub
  • MDTV
    • Breaking News
    • Medical News Today
    • Health News Today
    • Latest
    • Journal Club
    • Medico Legal Update
    • Latest Webinars
    • MD Shorts
    • Health Dialogues
  • Fact Check
  • Health Dialogues
Medical Dialogues
  • Medical News & Guidelines
      • Anesthesiology
      • Cardiology and CTVS
      • Critical Care
      • Dentistry
      • Dermatology
      • Diabetes and Endocrinology
      • ENT
      • Gastroenterology
      • Medicine
      • Nephrology
      • Neurology
      • Obstretics-Gynaecology
      • Oncology
      • Ophthalmology
      • Orthopaedics
      • Pediatrics-Neonatology
      • Psychiatry
      • Pulmonology
      • Radiology
      • Surgery
      • Urology
      • Laboratory Medicine
      • Diet
      • Nursing
      • Paramedical
      • Physiotherapy
  • Health news
      • Doctor News
      • Government Policies
      • Hospital & Diagnostics
      • International Health News
      • Medical Organization News
      • Medico Legal News
      • NBE News
      • NMC News
  • Fact Check
      • Bone Health Fact Check
      • Brain Health Fact Check
      • Cancer Related Fact Check
      • Child Care Fact Check
      • Dental and oral health fact check
      • Diabetes and metabolic health fact check
      • Diet and Nutrition Fact Check
      • Eye and ENT Care Fact Check
      • Fitness fact check
      • Gut health fact check
      • Heart health fact check
      • Kidney health fact check
      • Medical education fact check
      • Men's health fact check
      • Respiratory fact check
      • Skin and hair care fact check
      • Vaccine and Immunization fact check
      • Women's health fact check
  • AYUSH
    • Ayurveda
    • Homeopathy
    • Siddha
    • Unani
    • Yoga
  • State News
      • Andaman and Nicobar Islands
      • Andhra Pradesh
      • Arunachal Pradesh
      • Assam
      • Bihar
      • Chandigarh
      • Chattisgarh
      • Dadra and Nagar Haveli
      • Daman and Diu
      • Delhi
      • Goa
      • Gujarat
      • Haryana
      • Himachal Pradesh
      • Jammu & Kashmir
      • Jharkhand
      • Karnataka
      • Kerala
      • Ladakh
      • Lakshadweep
      • Madhya Pradesh
      • Maharashtra
      • Manipur
      • Meghalaya
      • Mizoram
      • Nagaland
      • Odisha
      • Puducherry
      • Punjab
      • Rajasthan
      • Sikkim
      • Tamil Nadu
      • Telangana
      • Tripura
      • Uttar Pradesh
      • Uttrakhand
      • West Bengal
  • Medical Education
      • Ayush Education News
      • Dentistry Education News
      • Medical Admission News
      • Medical Colleges News
      • Medical Courses News
      • Medical Universities News
      • Nursing education News
      • Paramedical Education News
      • Study Abroad
  • Industry
      • Health Investment News
      • Health Startup News
      • Medical Devices News
      • Pharma News
      • Pharmacy Education News
      • Industry Perspective
  • MDTV
      • Health Dialogues MDTV
      • Health News today MDTV
      • Latest Videos MDTV
      • Latest Webinars MDTV
      • MD shorts MDTV
      • Medical News Today MDTV
      • Medico Legal Update MDTV
      • Top Videos MDTV
      • Health Perspectives MDTV
      • Journal Club MDTV
      • Medical Dialogues Show
This site is intended for healthcare professionals only
LoginRegister
Medical Dialogues
LoginRegister
  • Home
  • Medical news & Guidelines
    • Anesthesiology
    • Cardiology and CTVS
    • Critical Care
    • Dentistry
    • Dermatology
    • Diabetes and Endocrinology
    • ENT
    • Gastroenterology
    • Medicine
    • Nephrology
    • Neurology
    • Obstretics-Gynaecology
    • Oncology
    • Ophthalmology
    • Orthopaedics
    • Pediatrics-Neonatology
    • Psychiatry
    • Pulmonology
    • Radiology
    • Surgery
    • Urology
    • Laboratory Medicine
    • Diet
    • Nursing
    • Paramedical
    • Physiotherapy
  • Health news
    • Doctor News
    • Government Policies
    • Hospital & Diagnostics
    • International Health News
    • Medical Organization News
    • Medico Legal News
    • NBE News
    • NMC News
  • Fact Check
    • Bone Health Fact Check
    • Brain Health Fact Check
    • Cancer Related Fact Check
    • Child Care Fact Check
    • Dental and oral health fact check
    • Diabetes and metabolic health fact check
    • Diet and Nutrition Fact Check
    • Eye and ENT Care Fact Check
    • Fitness fact check
    • Gut health fact check
    • Heart health fact check
    • Kidney health fact check
    • Medical education fact check
    • Men's health fact check
    • Respiratory fact check
    • Skin and hair care fact check
    • Vaccine and Immunization fact check
    • Women's health fact check
  • AYUSH
    • Ayurveda
      • Ayurveda Giuidelines
      • Ayurveda News
    • Homeopathy
      • Homeopathy Guidelines
      • Homeopathy News
    • Siddha
      • Siddha Guidelines
      • Siddha News
    • Unani
      • Unani Guidelines
      • Unani News
    • Yoga
      • Yoga Guidelines
      • Yoga News
  • State News
    • Andaman and Nicobar Islands
    • Andhra Pradesh
    • Arunachal Pradesh
    • Assam
    • Bihar
    • Chandigarh
    • Chattisgarh
    • Dadra and Nagar Haveli
    • Daman and Diu
    • Delhi
    • Goa
    • Gujarat
    • Haryana
    • Himachal Pradesh
    • Jammu & Kashmir
    • Jharkhand
    • Karnataka
    • Kerala
    • Ladakh
    • Lakshadweep
    • Madhya Pradesh
    • Maharashtra
    • Manipur
    • Meghalaya
    • Mizoram
    • Nagaland
    • Odisha
    • Puducherry
    • Punjab
    • Rajasthan
    • Sikkim
    • Tamil Nadu
    • Telangana
    • Tripura
    • Uttar Pradesh
    • Uttrakhand
    • West Bengal
  • Medical Education
    • Ayush Education News
    • Dentistry Education News
    • Medical Admission News
    • Medical Colleges News
    • Medical Courses News
    • Medical Universities News
    • Nursing education News
    • Paramedical Education News
    • Study Abroad
  • Industry
    • Health Investment News
    • Health Startup News
    • Medical Devices News
    • Pharma News
      • CDSCO (Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation) News
    • Pharmacy Education News
    • Industry Perspective
  • Home
  • Oncology
  • Oncology News
  • Starve the cancer to...

Starve the cancer to kill malignant cells: Study

Written By : Hina Zahid |Medically Reviewed By : Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli Published On 2020-07-25T12:12:53+05:30  |  Updated On 25 July 2020 12:12 PM IST
Starve the cancer to kill malignant cells: Study
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
  • Telegram
  • Email

Researchers have found in a new study that cancer cells survival may be jeopardized by inhibiting cellular mechanism by starvation.

Fighting cancer often means employing a suite of techniques to target the tumor and prevent it from growing and spreading to other parts of the body. It's no small feat -- the American Cancer Society predicts roughly 1.8 million new cases of cancer in the country in 2020, underscoring the need to identify additional ways to outsmart the runaway cells.

Researchers at UC Santa Barbara may have added to that arsenal by helping to identify a cellular mechanism that, if inhibited, could enable interruption of the signal to proliferate, as well as starvation of the malignant cells and their eventual death. Their research is published in the journal Science Signaling.

"This particular approach is unique in the sense that it targets mitochondrial metabolism," said organic chemistry professor and paper co-author Armen Zakarian, whose lab looks to nature to guide the molecules they synthesize. Though strategies continue to diversify, cancer chemotherapy typically works by damaging the cells' genes, rendering them unable to replicate successfully. Targeting the ability of the cancer cells to access the energy and biological molecules they need to carry out their functions is a relatively new tactic, and the subject of intense research, according to Zakarian.

The molecular workhorse of this project is derived from sea sponges -- Xestospongin B (XeB), isolated from Xestospongia exigua. First isolated years ago by study co-author Jordi Molgó, Zakarian said, the molecule was subsequently found by researchers, including Cesar Cárdenas, this paper's lead author, to have inhibitory effects on inositol triphosphate (IP3) receptors found on the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). The ER is a cell organelle that performs several functions, including molecule transport and storage, and synthesis of lipids, proteins and nucleic acids. In addition to faculty appointments at the Universidad Mayor and at the Geroscience Center for Brain Health and Metabolism in Chile, Cárdenas holds an adjunct position in UCSB's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

But, supply of the XeB molecule had gotten low. Production by the marine sponge is not guaranteed, so attempts to re-isolate the molecule were coming up short.

"That's where we came in," Zakarian said of the collaboration behind this paper. As a result of the synthetic access his lab provided, the researchers determined that by using XeB to block activation of IP3 receptors, they were able to prevent the subsequent calcium ion transport from the ER to the mitochondria -- a signal that kicks off processes in the mitochondria that produce chemical energy (ATP) and metabolic intermediates necessary for cell survival.

"There's no calcium in the mitochondria and it impacts the bioenergetics and, perhaps more importantly, the cell's metabolism," Zakarian said. In particular, the mitochondria fail to proceed with a modified metabolism favored by cancer cells that results in the Warburg effect, which, in addition to generating ATP, results in highly efficient conversion of nutrients into biomass (tumor growth). Cancer cells also were found to be particularly sensitive to the toxicity caused by XeB's interruption, while healthy cells remained viable.

ER-to-mitochondria calcium ion transport is essential also to the more typical and well-studied oxidative phosphorylation type of metabolism that normal and some cancer cells use for energy. Inhibiting inositol triphosphate receptors and lowering calcium ion uptake reduces ATP in this scenario, and prolonged inhibition, according to the researchers, "generates a bioenergetic crisis that results in >70% cell death" in tumorigenic breast and prostate cells metabolizing via oxidative phosphorylation.

While the bioenergetic crisis would be experienced also by non-cancerous cells exposed to XeB or a similar inhibitor, the energy requirements of cancer cells render them more vulnerable.

"Because the cancer cells have all of these high-energy demands, as well as increased demands for metabolic intermediates to sustain replication, basically it begins the process that leads to cell death," Zakarian said. "Normal cells could survive the period of energetic stress and recover."

The finding that ER-to-mitochondria calcium flow is critical for multiple metabolic cancer pathways suggests that this mechanism could be an important target for future cancer therapies, and potentially some subtypes that are resistant to current chemotherapies. The research is still ongoing.

"We're going to continue to get data right now on the effects of xestospongin itself on cancer cells and also on neurodegeneration," said Zakarian, whose lab is studying how to scale up production of XeB. "Long-term goals could be in developing some sort of therapeutics."

For more details click on the link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/scisignal.aay1212

canceramerican cancer societyFastingCancer progression
Source : Science Signaling
Hina Zahid
Hina Zahid

    Hina Zahid Joined Medical Dialogue in 2017 with a passion to work as a Reporter. She coordinates with various national and international journals and association and covers all the stories related to Medical guidelines, Medical Journals, rare medical surgeries as well as all the updates in the medical field. Email: editorial@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751

    Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli
    Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli

    Dr Kamal Kant Kohli-MBBS, DTCD- a chest specialist with more than 30 years of practice and a flair for writing clinical articles, Dr Kamal Kant Kohli joined Medical Dialogues as a Chief Editor of Medical News. Besides writing articles, as an editor, he proofreads and verifies all the medical content published on Medical Dialogues including those coming from journals, studies,medical conferences,guidelines etc. Email: drkohli@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751

    Show Full Article
    Next Story

    Editorial

    First Indian Consensus on Managing Refractory Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease Recommends Vonoprazan

    First Indian Consensus on Managing Refractory Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease Recommends Vonoprazan

    Re-visiting the Role of Pneumococcal Vaccination in Patients with Cardiovascular Diseases

    Re-visiting the Role of Pneumococcal Vaccination in Patients with Cardiovascular Diseases

    Prediabetes and the Mind: Unraveling Cognitive and Mental Health Risks

    Prediabetes and the Mind: Unraveling Cognitive and Mental Health Risks

    Real-World Case study: Darbepoetin Alfa for Chemotherapy-Induced Anemia in Metastatic Breast Cancer - Dr Aditya Murali

    Real-World Case study: Darbepoetin Alfa for Chemotherapy-Induced Anemia in Metastatic Breast Cancer...

    Aspirin in Primary Prevention- When to Consider?

    Aspirin in Primary Prevention- When to Consider?

    View All

    Journal Club Today

    Is Fitness Overrated? Study Questions the True Impact of Fitness on Early Death

    Is Fitness Overrated? Study Questions the True Impact of Fitness on Early Death

    View All

    Health News Today

    Health Bulletin 17/ May/ 2025

    Health Bulletin 17/ May/ 2025

    View All
    © 2022 All Rights Reserved.
    Powered By: Hocalwire
    X
    We use cookies for analytics, advertising and to improve our site. You agree to our use of cookies by continuing to use our site. To know more, see our Cookie Policy and Cookie Settings.Ok