Tadpoles May Help With Skin Cancer Detection
Researchers at the University of East Anglia have completed several years work to find a compound that seems to block the movement of the pigment cells that give tadpoles their unique markings. Uncontrolled movement of pigment cells has been linked to cancer in both humans and frogs, which means skin cancer detection and prevention could be improved.
Melanoma cells in particular, are known to migrate (or move) through the body to the organs, causing secondary tumors that are one of the more high-risk forms of cancer.
Melanomas are one of the most dangerous types of skin cancer because they’re both invasive and resistant to treatment.
Malignant melanoma is responsible for 75% of all skin cancer deaths, and about 160,000 new cases (over 62,000 in the U.S.) of melanoma are diagnosed worldwide each year.
If research can learn how to block this process, perhaps cancer spread can be delayed or even halted altogether.
Despite the hopeful outlook, practical applications in terms of medications are likely still years away.
The compound used in this study was selected from 3,000, screened to see if they effected the pigment cells. The compound, known as NSC 84093, produced a visible change in the color markings on the tadpoles when used in very low concentrations. The continuous stripe along the back was replaced by a pattern of blocks of color along the back of the tadpole.
Biologist and lead researcher Grant Wheeler at the University of East Anglia said, “Forty of the compounds gave us an interesting difference which we wanted to follow up.”
Apparently its easy to look at the tadpole embryos and see the color change – so many compounds could be tested.
A chemist at the University saw that the structure of the compound they were using had properties that showed it could bind to a zinc molecule. A substance expressed by melanoma tumors, matrix metaloproteinases (MMP) thought to be involved with cell behavior such as migration, is zinc dependent.
The compound identified by the British researchers keeps the MMP from doing what comes naturally. The team saw changes to patterning on the tadpoles depending on the strength of the dose given.
And if you’re wondering what tadpoles can tell us about cancer, it helps to understand how much we have in common with the little critters. These simple creatures diverged from man a mere 360 million years ago, though they still have the same organs, molecules and physiology as we do.
This tells us that cancers in the frogs will develop and act just as they do in people.
What’s more, the tadpole that becomes the South African Clawed Frog, produces eggs all year round so supplies of subjects are plentiful.
The intriguing study appears in the January 2009 journal Chemistry & Biology and though there is still a lot of work to be done, if these preliminary results hold, we may be one step close to finding an effective skin cancer detection process and treatment for one of many invasive forms of cancer. The next step is to test the compound in other animals.
Most Effective Treatments Applied to Help With Acute Leukemia
There are several common treatments for leukemia patients. The information that follows is not intended as comprehensive, but rather provides a broad overview of options available to the medical community.
Leukemia is a type of cancer that begins in the blood-forming cells of the bone marrow. From there, the disease quickly moves into the blood where it can spread to other parts of the body. It typically chooses the liver, lymph nodes, spleen, spinal cord, brain and even the skin. Acute leukemia means the disease develops quickly and can be fatal within a few months.
To learn more about the different types of treatments used to treat acute leukemia, read on.
Radiation
Radiation therapy is used for two purposes. The first is to actively treat and kill leukemia cancer cells in the spinal fluid and the brain. The second way in which radiation therapy is used is as a prevention method – essentially to prevent the cancer from returning to different parts of the body after chemotherapy.
Chemotherapy Courses
Chemotherapy is the primary treatment used to address leukemia. There are three major stages of chemotherapy for leukemia patients and these are induction, consolidation and maintenance. Essentially, induction is the phase intended to kill the majority of cancer cells. Consolidation is designed to kill any remaining cells, and maintenance is a low dose phase designed to prevent recurrence of the leukemia.
Remission Induction Therapy
Patients who are diagnosed with AML (acute myelogenous leukemia) will typically undergo remission induction treatments which involve cytrabine and an anthracycline. Because remission induction is so intensive, it’s often undergone on an in-patient basis.
Typically, a course of remission induction will only last between 5 and 7 days. However, because most of the body’s healthy bone marrow cells have been destroyed over the course of the treatment, the patient must endure a lengthy hospital stay following treatment.
Patients diagnosed with ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukemia) will typically undergo remission induction treatments which involve anthracycline, prednisone and vincristine. Generally, bone marrow damage is less significant, and ALL patients can expect shorter hospital stays.
Consolidation Chemotherapy
After the initial remission induction, the patient will undergo what is called consolidation therapy. This is designed to destroy any remaining cancer cells and therefore prevent a recurrence.
Maintenance Therapy
Patients with ALL might have to undergo ongoing maintenance therapy. Essentially, it is a course of oral medications that can typically be done on an out-patient basis.
Central Nervous System Prophylaxis
Some ALL patients may receive methotrexate, a drug used to treat leukemia, through a spinal tap. This is done to prevent ALL from recurring in either the spinal fluid or the brain.
Transplantation of Stem Cells
Stem cell transplantation is sometimes used in younger patients after remission induction, particularly if they have a poor prognosis. It’s also part of standard treatments for leukemia patients under 50 who have seen their leukemia relapse.
Leukemia is a deadly disease requiring both aggressive and persistent treatment. Fortunately there are several options from which the medical profession attempt to counter it.
