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Fatty acid enzyme levels affect lung cancer
Issue date: 5/1/08
A recent article from Francis Kuhajda and Edward Gabrielson, both in the Department of Pathology at Hopkins Hospital, reports that inhibition of an enzyme upregulated in lung tumors may have the potential to prevent growth of those tumors.
Currently, lung cancer is the leading cause of deaths from cancer in the United States and other industrialized countries. Lung cancer, once at an advanced stage, is a nearly intractable disease with a high mortality rate after five years.
About 21 percent of the United States population smokes tobacco, exposing them to high levels of carcinogens, or compounds that cause cancer. Even those who do quit smoking are still at a high risk for developing lung cancer.
With this information, the researchers from Hopkins decided to focus on developing a drug chemopreventative agent that would prevent cancer development.
The researchers investigated a compound known as C93 and its ability to specifically inhibit an enzyme in the body known as fatty acid synthase (FAS), which is involved in the fatty acid synthesis pathway. Fatty acid synthesis is important for maintaining cellular membranes and it has been shown previously that FAS is upregulated in many cancers, although its mechanism of action remains elusive.
The researchers wanted to do two things in this study: show that FAS is upregulated in early lung tumors and test the ability of C93 to inhibit lung tumor formation in mouse models of lung cancer.
Using immunohistochemistry to look for expression of FAS, the team found that 90 percent of a specific tumor found in the lungs of smokers overexpressed FAS. This directly compares to the normal tissue found in the samples taken from lung cancer patients, which expressed no detectable levels of FAS.
Next, using carcinogens commonly found in cigarettes, the researchers induced lung cancer by exposing mice to the chemicals. They repeated the experiment and found FAS overexpression in this mouse model, allowing them to conduct research on FAS inhibitors.
Currently, lung cancer is the leading cause of deaths from cancer in the United States and other industrialized countries. Lung cancer, once at an advanced stage, is a nearly intractable disease with a high mortality rate after five years.
About 21 percent of the United States population smokes tobacco, exposing them to high levels of carcinogens, or compounds that cause cancer. Even those who do quit smoking are still at a high risk for developing lung cancer.
With this information, the researchers from Hopkins decided to focus on developing a drug chemopreventative agent that would prevent cancer development.
The researchers investigated a compound known as C93 and its ability to specifically inhibit an enzyme in the body known as fatty acid synthase (FAS), which is involved in the fatty acid synthesis pathway. Fatty acid synthesis is important for maintaining cellular membranes and it has been shown previously that FAS is upregulated in many cancers, although its mechanism of action remains elusive.
The researchers wanted to do two things in this study: show that FAS is upregulated in early lung tumors and test the ability of C93 to inhibit lung tumor formation in mouse models of lung cancer.
Using immunohistochemistry to look for expression of FAS, the team found that 90 percent of a specific tumor found in the lungs of smokers overexpressed FAS. This directly compares to the normal tissue found in the samples taken from lung cancer patients, which expressed no detectable levels of FAS.
Next, using carcinogens commonly found in cigarettes, the researchers induced lung cancer by exposing mice to the chemicals. They repeated the experiment and found FAS overexpression in this mouse model, allowing them to conduct research on FAS inhibitors.
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Asbestos cancer
posted 8/11/08 @ 12:39 PM EST
Almost everything that surrounds us is about cancer, I really don feel safe because as the time passes we discover new cancer factors and no real cures for this terrible disease. (Continued…)
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