Researchers have said that a process that has been newly discovered that can kill cancer cells can also eradicate tumors along with bringing down the risk of side effects and the disease recurring. CASPASE INDEPENDENT CELL DEATH (CICD) COMPLETELY REMOVES TUMORS The method used by scientists is called Caspase Independent Cell Death or CICD for short, and in experimental models, it has been able to completely remove tumors. The current cancer treatments that are available at the moment, such as radiation, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy kill off the cancer cells using a process with the name of apoptosis. This can activate the proteins which are called caspases.
RELATED ARTICLES After Announcing Breakthrough Cancer Treatment – Several Involved Doctors Found Dead Big Pharme Once Again Holding Back Promising Cancer Treatment While this is all well and good the treatment does come with side effect risks, and they can often fail to get rid of all the cancer cells, which then have the risk of the disease recurring. Now Dr. Stephen Tait from the University of Glasgow has led a team of researchers into the new method, CICD. He said that the CICD method of dealing with cancer cells and tumors often leads to tumor regression that is more complete and this could be a much more effective way in which to treat cancer and an alternative to apoptosis. CICD IMPROVES EFFECTIVENESS OF ANTI-CANCER THERAPY He went on to say that the mechanism has the potential to be able to dramatically improve how effective anticancer therapy will be along with reducing toxicity that is unwanted. He said that they had taken their findings into consideration and had proposed to engage CICD as anti-cancer therapy and this is something that needs to be looked into further. Tait said that when the cancer cells are killed off when using CICD, the immune system is alerted through the release of inflammatory proteins. The patient’s immune system is then able to attack any tumor cells that were not killed off when the patient went through the initial treatment. CICD CAN APPLY TO VARIOUS TYPES OF CANCERS The researchers made use of colorectal cancer cells, but Dr. Tait said that CICD would have the benefits when applied to many other types of cancer. Cancer Research UK partly funded the research, and they said that scientists should do more research into using the method and hopefully come up with new ways to trigger it in human beings. Dr. Justine Alford said that while many treatments for cancer worked by triggering apoptosis, the method can often fail when it comes to completing the job and this, in turn, might make the tumor much more difficult to treat. She went on to say that the new research does seem to suggest that there might be a better way of killing off cancer cells and there would be the added bonus of also activating the immune system of the patient.