Heart drug believed to effectively manage cancer
Thursday 15th December 2011
A new drug used to treat angina has been highlighted as a method of effectively managing cancer.
Researchers at Queen's University have found that nitroglycerin can shed light on why cells within a person's immune system fail to eliminate cancer when it occurs in the body.
The team at the centre found that hypoxia in a cancer cell is linked to the overproduction of a key enzyme, ADAM10, which makes the cell resistant to attack by immune cells. However, when the cells were treated with nitroglycerin cancer cells lost their resistance to an immune system attack.
It is believed that the drug could potentially be used to boost the body's natural immune response to cancer.
Charles Graham, a professor in the Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences who led the research team, said: "This discovery may lead to new approaches for the treatment of patients with certain forms of cancer."
Thousands die in the UK every year from cancer with NHS figures showing that in 2007 there were 10,239 deaths in Britain from prostate cancer alone.
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written by Megan Smith
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