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Israeli scientists find stroke drug could help cure cancer
By Ofri Ilani, Haaretz Correspondent

Israeli scientists have identified a substance that can kill cancerous cells without harming healthy ones, paving the way for more effective cancer treatment.

The findings by researchers at Tel Aviv University and Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, were published in the current issue of the international peer-reviewed journal Breast Cancer Research.

"We actually found the Achilles heel of the cancer cell," said Prof. Malka Cohen-Armon from Tel Aviv University, who headed the research team. "As soon as you can target cancerous cells without killing healthy ones, you can produce medications that would cause a lot less suffering to the patient. We can even give a much more aggressive treatment without worrying about harming healthy tissues."
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The substance identified by the researchers, which delays cell proliferation in healthy and cancerous cells, is a component of a drug developed a decade ago to preserve nerve cells and prevent them from dying after a stroke.

But while the drug causes the rapid death of cancer cells, healthy cells activate a mechanism that overcomes the delay in proliferation within hours, and those cells continue to proliferate exactly like cells not exposed to the substance.

Cohen-Armon said the drug's effectiveness in treating cancer cells was discovered accidentally.

"I'm not even a cancer researcher," she said. "But two years ago an article we published on various functions in the cell got me interested in cancer cells."

She said the scientists involved in the discovery - who include doctoral student Asher Castiel and Professor Shai Izraeli's research group at the Sheba Cancer Research Center - haven't figured out why the drug affects the cells the way it does.

"We don't even fully understand why this is happening, but we see cancerous cells die and healthy cells overcome this obstacle," said Cohen-Armon. "They somehow find a way to proliferate even in the presence of the substance."

She said the drug was tested on several types of cancer, but so far only the breast cancer tests results have been published.

The experiment has been carried out on female mice, which were injected with human cancerous cells. The substance was gradually released over two weeks. The mice that weren't treated with the substance developed malignant tumors - but in those that got the treatment, the substance either prevented or significantly stalled the development of the cancerous cells.

The experiments did not find any changes in the behavior of the mice treated with the substance.

One of the obstacles to applying the discovery to all forms of cancer is that the medicine is registered as a patent of an American pharmaceutical company. Tel Aviv University's technology transfer company, Ramot, has secured a usage patent enabling it to develop the drug to treat only breast cancer.

The future development of the drug depends on the goodwill of the American company, or on another company developing a similar substance.

"We really want to develop this drug, but there are some completely non-scientific obstacles," Cohen-Armon said. "I hope the research doesn't fade away because of that."

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      1.   Does anyone know the name of the drug? 05:55  |  Smadar 05/11/09
      2.   Well Done, Israel 06:50  |  Khaled 05/11/09
      3.   this medication shouldn`t be developed - boycott israel academics 07:13  |  odles 05/11/09
      4.   Getting in touch with the researchers 07:30  |  Omar Karsou 05/11/09
      5.   "discovered accidentally" 08:16  |  Ian 05/11/09
      6.   tough luck odles 08:33  |  j 05/11/09
      7.   Odles from Jerusalem 09:21  |  Purple Canary 05/11/09
      8.   Odles 10:59  |  Susan 05/11/09
      9.   BOYCOTT ISRAEL NOW!!!!! 14:06  |  GA 05/11/09
      10.   Boycott question 14:43  |  Reasoned Thinker 05/11/09
      11.   I think Odles was ironic 14:44  |  Misgeret 05/11/09
      12.   Read Health News 14:56  |  soeasytomakefriends 05/11/09
      13.   "The futur development..." 15:08  |  Anne 05/11/09
      14.   # 10 unreasoned thinker 15:16  |  Axel 05/11/09
      15.   Axel , did you ever visited Weitzman ??? 15:58  |  TOMY 05/11/09
      16.   # 15 tomy 17:13  |  Axel 05/11/09
      17.   Interesting research 18:02  |  Mark Lincoln 05/11/09
      18.   Thank you soeasytomakefriends 18:09  |  Mark Lincoln 05/11/09
      19.   #10 Unreasoned thinker 18:12  |  Objective reasoning 05/11/09
      20.   The marvelous jewel that is Israel 18:13  |  Gina 05/11/09
      21.   A complement to Ofri Ilani 18:16  |  Mark Lincoln 05/11/09
      22.   16 Axel`s attempt to denigrate Israel`s medical advances... 18:23  |  bat yam 05/11/09
      23.   AXEL Bragging about German scientists as usual 18:50  |  Gil 05/11/09
      24.   Axel 7 prizes of Germany was wonned by Jews 18:52  |  Aby 05/11/09
      25.   Use patent 19:04  |  MarkC 05/11/09
      26.   #16 - Axel 19:33  |  Maurice 05/11/09
      27.   Axel 00:31  |  Jania 06/11/09
      28.   cancer drug 09:18  |  Mary 06/11/09
      29.   Cannabis Oil 10:55  |  Vierotchka 06/11/09
      30.   link to researchers emails 08:53  |  Tom 07/11/09
      31.   #4 there is only one tel aviv university 14:28  |  get in touch with it 07/11/09
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