A cancer drug that destroys the deadly cells which give birth to tumours has been developed by scientists.
It has worked already in tackling breast cancer and offers hope to those with the disease in their prostate, skin or bowel.
The drug selectively kills cancer stem cells which help tumours grow and spread the disease through the body. Unlike other cancer cells, stem ‘mother’ cells are resistant to radiotherapy and
chemotherapy, allowing cancer to return after treatment.In laboratory tests, the new drug, salinomycin, was 100 times more effective at destroying stem cells than the powerful chemo treatment Taxol.
Injected into mice with breast cancer, it also slowed the growth of tumours.
Stem cells treated with the new drug
were less able to start tumours in the animals than cells treated with Taxol, the journal Cell reports.
The U.S. researchers believe dozens of drugs with similar properties could be developed over the next few years. The treatment is around a decade away from the market.
The new drugs could be used in combination with standard therapies to mop up cancer stem cells left behind by traditional treatment.
This would cut the odds of the cancer coming back.
They could also be used to halt the spread of the disease through the body. This is the most common cause of death in the 155,000 cancer patients who die each year.
Piyush Gupta, of the Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and Harvard, said: ‘It wasn’t clear it would be possible to find compounds that selectively kill cancer stem cells. We’ve shown it can be done.
‘Our work reveals the biological effects of targeting cancer stem cells
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