Diuretic helps in the treatment of cancer

Blood Pressure Medicine Improves Lung Cancer Treatment

Valentina Sagina, "Your Back"

According to a new study, a drug that is commonly used to reduce high blood pressure may help improve the effectiveness of lung cancer treatment (see the press release of Imperial College London Blood pressure drug may boost effectiveness of lung cancer treatment - BM).

A team of scientists from England and China studied the effectiveness of a drug for the treatment of lung cancer called erlotinib, which is used by 10 to 30% of patients with a genetic mutation that causes this disease.

This mutation develops in a specific receptor. It is crucial for the growth and survival of cancer cells. In patients with this mutation, erlotinib blocks this receptor and stops the growth of cancer cells. Unfortunately, they quickly become resistant to the drug. This usually happens within a few months.

Previous studies have shown that at least half of the cancer cells become resistant to erlotinib by developing a second mutation.

The researchers found that this second mutation lowers the level of a natural antioxidant called glutathione. They also found that increasing the levels of glutathione in cancer cells in the laboratory completely changed their resistance to erlotinib and helped kill cancer cells.

Inspired by this discovery, the scientists decided to find out which of the existing drugs increase glutathione levels. They found that ethacric acid, which has been used by patients for 30 years to treat swelling, fluid retention and high blood pressure, also increases glutathione levels. The effect of this drug is that it causes the kidneys to remove more water from the body, blocking the excretion of glutathione.

A study on mice confirmed that etacric acid helps reverse resistance to erlotinib and increases its effectiveness in the fight against lung cancer. Now the researchers hope to conduct human trials.

The results of the study were published in the journal Cell Discovery (Li et al., Reduced glutathione biosynthesis contributes to EGFR T790M-driven erlotinib resistance in non-small cell lung cancer).

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  03.10.2016