Source: UT Southwestern Medical Center
Date: October 6, 2006
Summary:
A molecule that cells normally use to fight viruses is also involved in keeping cancer cells alive, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered. The anti-viral molecule, called TBK-1, was found to be essential for cancer cells to live, so blocking it might point to a treatment for fighting cancer, the researchers report in today's issue of Cell. UT Southwestern researchers are now looking for chemicals that block TBK-1. They are also screening cancer cells for similar biochemical pathways essential to their survival but not essential in normal cells.
Commentary: Maybe this finding will lead to the development of new drugs to fight cancer, or enable stem cell treatments to effectively treat cancer without the healthy stem cells being "hijacked" by cancerous cells and turned into cancerous cells.
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