Can we do without chemotherapy?

Weightlessness kills cancer cells without drugs

Sergey Kolenov, Hi-tech+

This is not a reason to send cancer patients into orbit – scientists intend to simulate an unexpected effect with the help of new drugs.

In conditions of reduced gravity and weightlessness, the human body behaves differently than on Earth. However, most studies on this topic are devoted to the functions of a healthy body. Experts from the Sydney Institute of Technology decided to study how weightlessness can affect the development of cancer.

Researchers whose work tells New Atlas, built a microgravity simulator and placed ovarian, breast, nasal and lung cancer cell cultures in it. After 24 hours, 80% to 90% of the malignant cells died.

According to the authors, the lack of gravity disrupts the mechanisms of intercellular communication and cells do not receive information about their environment. This phenomenon is called the effect of mechanical unloading, it is because of it that astronauts lose bone mass.

It is not yet clear why the effect of mechanical unloading affects cancer cells much more strongly than most healthy ones. The researchers plan to get more information on this topic during the experiment, which will take place on the ISS next year. Participants of the first Australian research mission, among other things, will monitor the state of cancer cells directly in orbit for a week.

Of course, no one is going to cure cancer by simply sending patients into space. The researchers hope to discover specific receptors and biochemical pathways that are responsible for the death of malignant cells in microgravity. Then they intend to create drugs that mimic this effect.

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