One of the responses of the immune system to try and fight cancers is to attack them with high levels of free radicals, but many cancers adapt by overproducing antioxidant proteins - one of these is superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), which is often overproduced in lung adenocarcinomas. To try and counter this, researchers have therefore worked to come up with a compound that could inhibit the production of SOD1. Called ATN-224, this inhibitor was tested on non-small-cell lung cancer and was found to stunt the growth of human NSCLC cells in culture and induce their death. Inhibition of SOD1 and other antioxidant proteins caused hydrogen peroxide levels to increase inside the cells, which then activated the cell death pathways. Animal tests provided further evidence that ATN-224 can induce cancer cell death and reduce tumor sizes in a mouse model of lung adenocarcinoma. The effects were further improved when it was used in conjunction with another drug that works by activating programmed cell death.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 08:22:55 +0000
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