March 29, 2024
Researchers use a molecular Trojan horse to fight cancer
RIVERSIDE – (INT) - A research team at the University of California, Riverside has discovered a way for chemotherapy drug paclitaxel to target migrating, or circulating, cancer cells.

Those cells are responsible for the development of tumor metastases.

Until now, paclitaxel has only been used to target rapidly dividing cancer cells. The team was successful in getting the drug to piggyback on an agent they devised to target an oncogene.

Cancer spreads by allowing malignant cells to migrate from the primary tumor into circulation and eventually to adhere to other tissues.

“Once this novel tumor-homing agent binds to the receptor, the oncogene functions as a cancer-specific molecular Trojan horse for paclitaxel, carrying the drug inside the cancel cell, killing the cell, and thwarting metastasis,” says Maurizio Pellecchia, a professor of biomedical sciences at UCR’s School of Medicine who led the research.
Story Date: March 1, 2018
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