14 DAY TRIAL // University of Florida researchers have discovered a hole in the cancer cells' defense system, which allows them to resist the treatments aimed at destroying them.
Apparently, this type of cells uses a defense shield similar to that used by space ships in science-fiction movies.
The cells churn out an enzyme that bonds with a protein, creating a protective barrier that deflects damage from radiation or chemotherapy and promotes tumor cell survival.
But the University of Florida teams has found that weak link of this system, managing to prevent the bonding of the enzyme with the protein.
"We have found a gene called focal adhesion kinase which is produced at very high levels in human tumors, and our work has shown this makes the tumors more likely to survive as they spread throughout the body and grow," said William G. Cance, M.D., a researcher at the University of Florida Shands Cancer Center and chairman of the department of surgery at UF's College of Medicine.
"It also makes them more resistant to our attempts to kill them. And we're trying to understand exactly why this gene, which is a small enzyme molecule, is very intimately associated with tumor cell survival," he added.