Letal weapon versus cancer

Vall d’Hebron Hospital is right now the world leader of investigation of a new medicine against cancer. A new medicine has been discovered and essayed with some patients. But this new medicine is still experimental. Doctors say that this new medicine behaves in a different way from the others.

The good results of this investigation give the possibility of developing new drugs which could be used to treat different kinds of cancer and it this happens this treatment could be a revolutionary one

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The new drug operates from the inside of the tumoral cell disabling the activity of the gens that give support to cancer.

This is about molecules called ARNi that would be equal to genetic antibiotics. So, if antibiotics can treat illnesses caused by bacterium, the ARNi, will let treat illnesses causes by dangerous genetic cells.

The gens are made of ADN and from this point of they produce little molecules called ARN messenger (ARNm) and from these ones proteins start developing. If these proteins are good, the cells can work well, so it’s then when the ARNi comes out to avoid making bad proteins. The ARNi inactivates the ARNm and it stops producing bad cells.

To carry out this idea to to real world it’s a great challenge. The ARNi can be utilized to destroy bad gents, but the problem is that they get degraded in the blood. And the question is: How can web ring them up to the cells that have to be treated?

Alnylam, an American pharmaceutical company thought that if the ARNi was put in fat capsules, they would be the “taxi” thought the blood and these capsules would bring the ARN up to the bad cells and heal them.

Some animals have been tested in this way and it’s has been discovered that it’s possible to do it. After this, Alnylam got in touch with Vall d’Hebron and this same test was tested with humans, with cancer. The result was spectacular. The aim of this experiment was to know if the ARNi could be useful with humans, and if it was, to carry on with the investigation.

This test was so successful that even patients with metastasi, got excellent results.

“We only had one opportunity". If the test failed the investigation would be paralyzed” said Tabernero, who directs the High School of Oncology in Val d’Hebron.

Two more Spanish hospitals and six American hospitals, were adhered in this research. Like Clinico de Valencia, Virgen del Rocio and Dana-Ferber in Boston.

In this clinical research, only participated people who had very advanced cancer, people who didn’t have any possibility therapy and people who had several metastasis, were accepted.

Te results were given to the Discovery Cancer magazine and they demonstrate that the ARNi, goes to the tumoral cells of the liver and to other body organs and don’t have very important secondary effects.

The cancer has stopped progressing in four patients. One girl with uterous cancer with metastasis, the tumor mass had disappeared after two years of treatment.

“This is only the start" said Taberneto. The next step is to define the type of tumour that this therapy can help and to discover which gens have to be disabled in each tumour. Inn theory, this treatment of ARNi could be good in any kind of Cancer, as the develop in the same way, but Tabernero says that It’s very important to go “step by step”. If everything works all right, and we don’t have any complications, one treatment against cancer supported with ARNi, it could be applied in five years.