A drug that prevents the development of metastases has been developed in Russia, RIA Novosti reported on July 11.
Specialists from Siberian State Medical University, as part of a research team, have created a drug for the prevention of cancer metastasis. According to the authors, the developed compound based on nucleic acids can prevent the appearance of metastasis after removal of the primary tumor.
Cancer occurs due to genetic changes in cells, which cause them to divide uncontrollably and spread throughout the body. Most of them are destroyed by the immune system, but some may not die and enter a “resting” state for a long time. This depends on the immunity of each person, scientists from the Siberian State Medical University (SIMU) explained.
As the university noted, nearly all modern anti-cancer drugs are intended to treat only the primary tumor and cannot combat cancer cells that have already spread throughout the body, which are clones of the primary tumor with increased drug resistance.
The “survival” of clones is due to the increase in malignant properties of the tumor during its development. It constantly changes and, with natural selection, the most malignant and fittest clone survives. Therefore, chemotherapy that is effective in the early stages of treatment may not destroy all later transformed tumor cells, the scientists emphasized.
Scientists from Siberian State Medical University, the National Research Medical Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Tomsk State University have developed an RNA-based drug that blocks genes that promote the transition of cancer cells that have left a dormant state into tumor stem cells.
The microRNAs that form the core of the drug affect the genes that “activate” cancer cells. One of the authors of the study, Professor of the Department of Pathophysiology at Siberian State Medical University Elena Udut, explained that by blocking these genes that regulate potency, it is possible, according to experimental data, to prevent the appearance of metastases. She added that the drug does not affect the primary tumor or its development, but it does not allow metastases to develop in other organs.
Experts plan to develop a finished dosage form and start clinical trials in the future. Experts note that bringing the drug to market will take a long time even under favorable conditions, since the trials in which scientists will evaluate the effect of the drug on the development of metastases will last at least 5-6 years.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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