Scientists have discovered a new way whereby targeting a specific molecule in the body can make cancer treatment more effective.
The study was conducted by researchers from Barts Cancer Institute, part of Queen Mary University of London. They found that a molecule, called focal adhesion kinase (FAK), signals the body to repair itself after chemotherapy or radiotherapy, which kill cancer cells by damaging DNA.
"This work shows that sensitivity to cancer treatment is related to our own body mistakenly trying to shield the cancer from cell-killing effects caused by radiotherapy and chemotherapy," Dr Bernardo Tavora, lead author on the paper from the Barts Cancer Institute, said in a press statement. "Although taking out FAK from blood vessels won't destroy the cancer by itself, it can remove the barrier cancer uses to protect itself from treatment."
When the researchers removed FAK from blood vessels that grew in melanoma or lung cancer models, both chemotherapy and radiation therapies were far more effective in killing the tumors.
The researchers examined samples taken from several lymphoma patients. They found that the patients who had low levels of FAK in their blood vessels were more likely to have complete remission following treatment. The finding also suggested that developing drugs to strike out FAK in cancer blood vessels may make cancer treatments more effective and prevent the cancer from coming back.
"This exciting research may have cracked how healthy cells in the blood vessels are protecting against cancer treatments. This research was only done in mice, but it gives real hope that we can boost the effectiveness of cancer medicine and sensitise cancers to the drugs we have," Dr Kat Arney, Cancer Research UK's science communications manager, said.
Cancer remains the second most common cause of death in the U.S., accounting for nearly 1 of every 4 deaths. According to CDC estimates, there will be an estimated 1,665,540 new cancer cases diagnosed and 585,720 cancer deaths in the country.
Findings were published online in the journal Nature.
