• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Scientists discover 'kill switch' that triggers death of cancer cell in breakthrough

Home> News> Health

Published 16:02 23 Nov 2023 GMT

Scientists discover 'kill switch' that triggers death of cancer cell in breakthrough

Scientists have heralded their latest study as a breakthrough in how we can treat cancer patients.

Gerrard Kaonga

Gerrard Kaonga

A research team in California have had a breakthrough in possible cancer treatments as they discover a way to cause cell death.

Scientists from the University of California, Davis (UCD) have found a way to destroy cells by using an essential ‘timer bomb’ on cells that line a tumor's associated blood vessels.

Basically, these vessels control access to the tumor tissue and until they are open, cells hoping to fight the cancer can’t get in.

With the timer bomb strategy, these doors are detonated as the cells 'death' receptor, called FAS or CD95, is activated.

Their findings were published Oct. 14 in the Nature journal Cell Death & Differentiation, and the scientists involved have heralded it as an important step forward.

Advert

“Previous efforts to target this receptor have been unsuccessful. But now that we’ve identified this epitope, there could be a therapeutic path forward to target Fas in tumors,” Tushir-Singh, immunologist and senior author of the study, said.

The antibody that binds to this epitope (a specific part of the death receptor) essentially represents the kill switch for the cell.

Once this immune checkpoint has been blown open, other cancer therapies have a greater chance of being effective and are now able to target the cancer cells.

Scientists involved have heralded it as an important step forward.
Getty Stock Image

Advert

These targets that are now accessible are often clumped together and hidden within the tumor.

"These are often called cold tumors because immune cells simply cannot penetrate the microenvironments to provide a therapeutic effect," Tushir-Singh added.

"It doesn't matter how well we engineer the immune receptor activating antibodies and T cells if they cannot get close to the tumor cells. Hence, we need to create spaces so T cells can infiltrate."

UCD have said despite this breakthrough, cancer treatment will likely continue to be managed with surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Advert

UCD have said despite this breakthrough, cancer treatment will likely continue to be managed with surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Getty Stock Image

“These treatments may work initially, but in some cases, therapy-resistant cancers often return. Immunotherapies, such as CAR T-cell-based immune therapies and immune checkpoint receptor molecule activating antibodies, have shown tremendous promise to break this cycle,” the University said in a statement.

Currently they only help an extremely small number of patients. This is especially true of people suffering with solid tumors such as ovarian, triple-negative breast cancer, lung and pancreas.

“Developing drugs that boost death receptor activity could provide an important weapon against tumors," the university added.

Advert

"However, though drug companies have had some success targeting the Death Receptor-5, no Fas agonists have made it into clinical trials. These findings could potentially change that."

Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Image

Topics: News, Science, Cancer

Gerrard Kaonga
Gerrard Kaonga

Gerrard is a Journalist at UNILAD and has dived headfirst into covering everything from breaking global stories to trending entertainment news. He has a bachelors in English Literature from Brunel University and has written across a number of different national and international publications. Most notably the Financial Times, Daily Express, Evening Standard and Newsweek.

Advert

Advert

Advert

  • Scientists discover a 'third state' that’s beyond life and death in huge breakthrough
  • Scientists discover mysterious inscription on ancient tomb that could reveal Count Dracula's final resting place
  • Scientists develop vaccine that could wipe out world's deadliest cancer
  • Woman shares first symptoms of rare cancer she was diagnosed with while in best shape of her life

Choose your content:

5 hours ago
6 hours ago
7 hours ago
  • 5 hours ago

    America’s ‘harshest’ death row prison gives shocking new privileges to killer inmates

    One death row inmate has said the new scheme has given him hope

    News
  • 5 hours ago

    Andy Byron's company speaks out after married CEO was caught with employee on Coldplay kiss cam

    The viral video has got people all over the internet talking

    News
  • 6 hours ago

    Woman diagnosed with brain tumor after dismissing symptoms as a cold that wouldn’t go away

    Amanda Hyne, from Connecticut, initially thought her symptoms were down to 'mom stress'

    News
  • 7 hours ago

    Harvard professor reveals the most important thing marriages need to survive

    Arthur Brooks, American academic and author, made his opinion known on a podcast last year

    News