Researchers induced mass cell death in aggressive neuroblastoma tumours in mice, and they say the treatment could apply to other hard-to-treat cancers
growth compared with a control group that was given no treatment. The group given the drugs also had no apparent side effects. By pairing this drug cocktail with a third intervention targeting a gene responsible for cell membrane repair, the team saw complete tumour remission after 14 days in 10 out of 12 mice and significant reductions in tumour size in the other two.
Neuroblastoma is one of the most common cancers to spontaneously resolve on its own, a phenomenon mostly seen in children under 18 months old. “These [findings] could absolutely help explain this phenomenon,” saysat the Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New York. More research would need to be done to test the hypothesis, but Flórez says that this age group tends to have lower cysteine levels.
While the three-pronged treatment still needs to be optimised before it can be used in human clinical trials, Flórez is hopeful it will open the door to treating other aggressive forms of“Neuroblastoma is a tumour in children, so it’s very specific,” says Flórez.