Developed by researchers at the City of Hope in Los Angeles, the drug will be called AOH1996, in honor of Anna Olivia Healy, a girl who died in 2005, just nine years old, of childhood cancer.
We keep talking about drug that could give new hope of recovery to cancer patients. The news of the experiment, conducted by scientists from one of the most important cancer centers in the United States, the City of Hope in Los Angelessoon went around the world, because this pill would seem really capable of destroying cancer cells, while leaving the others intact.
At the moment the drug has been tested in the laboratory on 70 different cancer cells – from breast, to prostate, to the brain, to ovaries – and has been found to be effective against all. However, while the initial results are promising, studies have only been done in cellular and animal models. The first phase of human trials has just begun. Researchers hope it could eventually be used alongside other treatments or as the sole anti-cancer therapy.
The drug, the result of twenty years of research, will be called AOH1996in honor of Anna Olivia Healy, a girl who died in 2005, just nine years old, from childhood cancer. The doctor Linda Malkas, who led the research, met Anna’s father shortly before he died and was inspired by the little patient’s story. The pill was designed to target a protein that is present in most cancers and promotes their growth and multiplication in the body: theproliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA)until now considered “uncontrollable”.
InfoNurse editorial staff
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Fonte: NurseTimes