|
|
Breaking Discoveries from The Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation
PRIORITY REPORT SIL: A NOVEL TARGET FOR ANTICANCER THERAPY |
Shai Izraeli, MSc,MD
Head, Research Section of Pediatric Malignancies,
Senior Lecturer
Sheba Cancer Research Center
Tel-Aviv University, Sackler School of Medicine
|
|
A leading paper in the journal Cancer Research has identified a potential novel target for anticancer therapy. SWCRF investigator Dr. Shai Izraeli and his colleagues, working at the Sheba Cancer Research Center, Tel-Aviv University, Israel, expanded on previously demonstrated increased expression of the SIL gene in a large variety of cancers. Now they have shown that SIL is essential for the survival and cell division of cancer cells. Silencing of the SIL gene with the use of advanced genetic engineering technologies has aborted the growth of colon cancer cells in the test tube and in mice, proving that it could be a good target for anticancer therapy. More research is needed for clarification of the SIL mechanisms associated with cancer cell survival. This will increase possibilities for the development of anticancer drugs that block SIL.
Ayelet Erez, Asher Castiel, Luba Trakhtenbrot, Marina Perelman, Esther Rosenthal, Itamar Goldstein, Noa Stettner, Alon Harmelin, Hagit Eldar-Finkelman, Stefano Campaner, Ilan Kirsch and Shai Izraeli “The SIL Gene Is Essential for Mitotic Entry and Survival of Cancer Cells.” Cancer Research 67, 4022-4027, May 1, 2007. Published Online First April 24, 2007; doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-07-0064© 2007
http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/67/9/4022
|
|
AN ANTICANCER STRATEGY THAT EFFECTIVELY ELIMINATES RESISTANT CANCER CELLS WITHOUT EXERTING DELETERIOUS EFFECTS ON NORMAL CELLS |
Paul B. Fisher, MD
Professor of Clinical Pathology
Director of Neuro-Oncology & Urology
Columbia University College of Physicians
& Surgeons |
SWCRF investigator Paul B. Fisher has reported an anticancer strategy that effectively eliminates resistant cancer cells with minimal effect on normal cells. Research done at Columbia University College of Medicine used melanoma differentiation-induced gene 7 (mda-7) in this work. The mda-7 gene, when used in combination with non-toxic doses of chemical compounds called endoperoxides, produces a protein that can eradicate cancer cells resistant to most forms of chemotherapy. This was demonstrated in both prostate and pancreatic cancer cells. This exciting new approach deals with the major problem of drug resistance that occurs in many forms of advanced cancer. Mda-7 was discovered by Dr. Fisher and his group during their studies of differentiation of melanoma. It has been used as a gene therapy and has shown a therapeutic effect in phase I studies in patients with melanoma. Dr. Samuel Waxman collaborated on an investigation that showed arsenic trioxide and benzodithiophenes significantly enhance the effect of mda-7 in eradicating pancreatic carcinoma and melanoma cells. Dr. Fisher is optimistic that gene therapy with mda-7 or the mda-7 protein will become an important treatment in difficult to treat cancers such as melanoma and pancreatic cancer. Larger clinical trials require the large-scale production of mda-7 gene or protein and the necessity for finding a more user-friendly treatment delivery system.
Irina V. Lebedeva, Ilyas Washington, Devanand Sarkar, Jennifer A. Clark, Robert L. Fine Paul Dent, David T. Curiel, Nicholas J. Turro, and Paul B. Fisher. Contributed by Nicholas J. Turro, January 3, 2007 (received for review December 9, 2006) “Strategy for reversing resistance to anticancer agents in human prostate and pancreatic carcinomas.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, VOL. 104, page 3484-9, 2007 http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/104/9/3484 |
| Collaborating for a Cure through the SWCRF Institute Without Walls
|
|