Friday, June 8, 2012

Antibiotics to Cure Cancer

Cancer cures vary - from surgery or radiation therapy to toxic chemotherapy,


Now, a new cure is rising on the horizon.  


Someday we may take an antibiotic as a cure.


A team of researchers at the Unniversity of Ottawa have discovered how our bodies adapt to low oxygen environments.  Their findings were published in Nature.  


When oxygen is present, cells make protein, but how do they adapt to low oxygen?  Apparently there is a trigger or gene that regulates protein synthesis in low oxygen environments.  This gene explains why people living at high altitudes can function normally or near normal. 


Cancer cells utilize this same protein synthesis pattern in low oxygen environments.  So if cancer cells use this same pathway to produce protein in low oxygen conditions, it is conceivable to someday develop a pill - or antibiotic - that could conceivably shut down this pathway to produce essential proteins hence leading to the death of the cancer cells.  This sane approach could be used to develop drugs to improve the outcomes of people who suffer strokes or heart attacks.  


This is a novel approach to treating cancer because researchers may produce a pill or antibiotic that would cut off the protein-making ability of cancer cells, leading to their deaths.  Dr. Stephen Lee - the head researcher - said work is being conducted now to develop a drug.


All of us medicine, including this Fort Myers, Florida plastic surgeon, pray for this development t  come quickly.

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