articles on emerging cancer research for treatment that boosts chemo's effectiveness

November 29, 2009 - 2:10pm
http://www.aacr.org/home/public--media/aacr-in-the-news.aspx?d=1532

"Diabetes Medication May Get New Life as Cancer Treatment (Wall Street Journal)

September 14, 2009

Souce Date: September 14, 2009
Source Author: Ron Winslow
The Wall Street Journal

The drug metformin, a mainstay of diabetes care for 15 years, may have a new life as a cancer treatment, researchers said.

In a study in mice, low doses of the drug, combined with a widely used chemotherapy called doxorubicin, shrank breast-cancer tumors and prevented their recurrence more effectively than chemotherapy alone.

The findings add to a growing body of evidence that metformin, marketed as Glugophase by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and available in generic versions, could be a potent antitumor medicine.

They also lend support to an emerging theory that cancer's ability to survive and resist therapy is regulated by cancer stem cells that drive a tumor's growth and survival.

Chemotherapy is effective against many tumors, said Kevin Struhl, a Harvard Medical School researcher and principal investigator of the study. "The problem is cancer stem cells acquire resistance" to treatment, he said. "They are able to regenerate the tumor and as a result you end up with a relapse."

About 5% to 10% of a tumor's cells are believed to be cancer stem cells, he said..."

This is only a short part of the paper. Insulin is known to affect cancer, so this makes sense, but it does need the research behind it to get okayed for use.

This site leads to a lot of articles on emerging cancer research for treatment and causes.
anyone interested, would find something of interest here I would imagine. I copy, paste and print things to read while I'm tucked in bed at night and my mind is free to do any associations it chooses.