Scientists have discovered a ‘switch’ that reverses cancer cells, in what is being described as a major breakthrough.
By activating this molecular level, researchers in South Korea were able to revert cancerous cells back to a healthier stage.
This allowed them to tap into the critical moment before normal cells irreversibly transform into diseased cells and halt the progression.
‘This finding provides a new approach for cancer treatment by rewiring cancer cells rather than eliminating them,’ Dr Tiffany Troso-Sandoval, a retired oncologist formerly at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center who was not involved in the study, told DailyMail.com.
To better understand this hybrid state, you can think of water boiling at exactly 212°F, (100c) said Dr Troso-Sandoval.
‘There’s a brief moment when water is neither fully liquid or fully steam,’ similar to how cancer development includes a short window where cells are both healthy and cancerous, she explained.
Traditional cancer treatments focus on removing cancer cells through surgery, or destroying them with radiation or chemotherapy.
But the new research appears to have uncovered a third approach that could allow cancer patients to regain their healthy cells.
Researchers tested this new treatment mechanism through molecular cell experiments in lab-grown mini-tumors, or organoids, made from colon cancer cells. Their ‘switch’ stopped cancer growth (top left) and reverted cells back to a health state (bottom right)
This could potentially lead to therapies that are less toxic than radiation and chemotherapy, Dr Troso-Sandoval said.
These traditional therapies damage all cells in the body — not just the cancerous ones.
This causes debilitating side effects and can ultimately make patients develop more diseases, including new cancers.
What’s more, the new findings could point to a way to prevent tumor formation in high-risk patients, Dr Troso-Sandoval added, such as people with a family history of the disease or who are regularly exposed to carcinogens like cigarette smoke.
