Tumor cells reprogrammed into "Trojan horses" that self-destruct while also killing all their companions around them. This is the result obtained by the research group led by the American Pennsylvania State University, thanks to the introduction of a genetic switch.
Tested in the laboratory on human cells and mice, the technique published in the journal "Nature Biotechnology" has proven capable of eliminating the most therapy-resistant cancer cells, which risk multiplying again into a new tumor that is increasingly difficult to treat.
Cancer drugs sometimes fail not because they are ineffective, but because of the natural diversity of cancer and the fact that, often, some cells become resistant to treatment, allowing the cancer to return.
Therefore, researchers led by Scott Leighow looked for a way to predict this mechanism and turn it to their advantage: they developed a genetic circuit, a kind of switch made up of two genes that turn on and off at different times.
When the former is activated, the cell becomes temporarily resistant to a specific drug: in this way, the treatment leaves it untouched, allowing it to multiply at the expense of other cancer cells that have naturally developed resistance.
At that moment, the first gene is turned off, making the cells vulnerable again, and the second is turned on instead: it is a suicide gene that produces a toxin capable of killing both the cell itself and those surrounding it.
"The beauty is that we are able to target tumor cells without knowing what they are, without waiting for them to grow or develop resistance because then it's too late," says Leighow.
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